At Liverpool, Everyone Is Taking Stock. Big Decisions Will Be Made

The strangest of summers will get even more chaotic

‘Replacing’ Jota; Isak; Ekitiké; Mac Allister; Konaté; Chiesa; Guéhi; potential best XI; and much more.

This is the strangest of times at Liverpool, with the most exciting summer in decades – hints of 1987 – turned, overnight a week ago, into the saddest since 1989.

(Is it still only a week? It feels like a month.)

The death of a beloved teammate will help bond the players together, and playing football will be a salve; albeit only after the initial difficulties of feeling ambivalent about the game, and a sapping of energy and excitement, with the spark of fun replaced by the sag of grief.

The players will surely ‘do it for Diogo’, but they will also feel so many emotions that the season, already one of transition, could go either way. Preseason will be tough in so many ways.

And it will only further focus the minds of those who already knew their careers were short.

If Luis Díaz, nearly 29 and into the final two years of his contract (and tapped-up by Barcelona) and Ibrahima Konaté, 26 and into the final year (due to not being in the team two seasons ago when it was time to renew, and tapped-up by Real Madrid, it seems, ahead of, they hope, a free transfer next summer) feel they have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play for clubs they may have long dreamt of playing for, then so be it.

They may see the need to move on as even more pressing issue, with uncertainty otherwise hanging over their futures, and in the second halves of their careers.

(Liverpool could still give them new deals, but the players may want too much money, given their bargaining positions, and they may want what are, to them, dream moves.)

At this point, I don’t really care who stays or goes, as long as the ones who stay want to play for the club, and good fees are gained from anyone departing.

The desire to play for the club has never been more important; and most should want to play for the club. And since the remarkable end to last season in terms of celebrations (and unity), and the remarkable compassion and shared grief (and unity) this summer, most should indeed still want to.

This is, after all, the team ranked no.1 in Europe on the Club Elo Index, and reigning champions, who only lost ‘Elo’ points when the title was won with a month to go. This is a special club; a unique club.

But it’s complicated, as everyone has transfer values (as do the Reds’ targets), and Liverpool have no need to play Konaté ahead of a move to Real Madrid and the 2026 World Cup if he’s seeing down his deal. (And a lot of players will have one eye on that tournament.) He has that right, and Liverpool have the right to place him on the bench for a year; to still use him, but start someone more committed in the XI.

This past week I wrote another three other pieces on Jota, but none felt right – albeit I will finish one of the more philosophical pieces for my separate TTT ZenDen Substack. I have articles I was writing and developing at the moment he died, that I will return to.

As well as the devastating loss of Jota, the Reds may have to sell Díaz, and were looking to sell Darwin Núñez, while Harvey Elliott, Federico Chiesa and Ben Doak could all have been going.

Now, does one stay? Two stay? None stay?

And rival clubs are spending big, to catch the Reds.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid are said to be after Alexis Mac Allister, as they seem intent on bringing as many of the Reds’ title-winners to Madrid as they can, albeit Liverpool have just raided Leverkusen, but at fair prices.

Were Mac Allister to leave, along with those the Reds are actively looking to sell, then it could take the total brought in this summer to over £400m; but with it, and spending it, comes the risk of churn, and disruption, which can be problematic in the short-term, but may benefit in the long-term.

Depending on who wants out in addition to those up for sale, Liverpool could sell more than a dozen players, but would probably buy no more than six for the first-team squad, given that the squad was overly deep to start with, when everyone was fit.

Now that everyone is back at the AXA bar those few who played longest into the summer, and with the funeral in Portugal, attended by Arne Slot, Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards (and many of the players), happening so soon after the death of Diogo and his brother Andre – with the whole squad visiting the shrine at Anfield yesterday – it means that there’s no choice but for everyone to honour Diogo by getting back to work and making Liverpool even better.

And so, how do you do that?

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