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After spending over £215m on five new signings in Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Armin Pecsi and Girogi Mamardashvili, whose imminent arrival on Merseyside from Valencia was agreed last year, the attention has very much turned to the sales side of the operation.

Trent Alexander-Arnold's early release from his Reds contract cost Real Madrid £10m at the start of June so the England international could feature at the Club World Cup in the United States, while Caoimhin Kelleher was finally granted his leave, moving to Brentford in a transfer worth up to £18.5m.

Quansah's departure, which sees Liverpool keep possession of a buy-back clause believed to be at around £51m, means the Premier League champions have recouped £63.5m of their record outlay in June.



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That figure is expected to swell as the futures of Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott remain unresolved and players like Federico Chiesa, Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas continue to be linked, to varying degrees, away from Anfield.

Luis Diaz is also wanted by Bayern Munich and Barcelona with both European giants now having been rebuffed following tentative advances.

A move from Serie A champions, however, might only be forthcoming once they have confirmed a departure of their own in Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen after a successful season on loan at Galatasaray.

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Despite the clamour for a big-money No.9 this summer, it is at centre-back where the more immediate need for coverage lies in the eyes of some.

With Quansah now off to Leverkusen, Arne Slot has just three specialist centre-backs in his senior ranks in captain Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.

It's been stressed that the versatility of Wataru Endo and even Ryan Gravenberch's tactical flexibility means the Reds won't be hurried into a panicked decision at centre-half, particularly given the outlay that has already been committed this summer.

Liverpool's centre-back search will continue to focus on those of a younger profile in the manner of Dean Hujisen and Leny Yoro, two players who were wanted in the past two summer windows before their respective moves to Real Madrid and Manchester United.

Marc Guehi, who turns 25 in mid-July, is not necessarily viewed in that bracket but the interest in the Crystal Palace captain endures due to his contract status at Selhurst Park.

Guehi has reportedly made it clear he won't countenance a new deal with the Eagles, leaving the FA Cup holders with two choices over the England international.

On one hand, Palace can keep their defender for the forthcoming campaign before seeing him leave as a free agent or they can offload him this summer and bring a transfer fee in.

With Sporting's Ousmane Diomande reportedly wanted at £40m, Oliver Glasner appears to be planning for life without Guehi.

But the major question is whether that starts this summer or in 12 months' time.

Last year, Newcastle United failed with as many as four bids for Guehi as the centre-back missed out on a move to the North East and stayed to skipper Palace to their first ever major piece of silverware when they beat Manchester City in the FA Cup in May.

Twelve months on, though, the goalposts have shifted somewhat for Palace, whose place in the UEFA Europa League remains in doubt, and it leaves them in an unenviable place where Guehi is concerned.

"You're not going to tie him down, are you?

That's the choice," former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan remarked in late June.

"They took the roll of the dice last year.

You might as well sell him."

The reality of Liverpool's huge spend and the fact that Konate and Van Dijk are established firmly as first choice at the back makes them at ease about Guehi's situation, particularly given he would jump at the chance to move to Anfield if the champions' interest was formalised.

"We want to survive and thrive in this division for two reasons: firstly because financially you have to cover the cost of running the club and, secondly, because the kind of players we want to attract we need to show them a pathway," Palace chairman Steve Parish told the US Overlap in May.

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"We're a destination for those great pros that have still got a massive competitive instinct, still want to do well, still want to give everything when they cross the white line but they realise they're probably not quite going to get to the level above us.

"Then there are players that are on a journey and on their way to the Bayern Munichs and other clubs.

We realised over a period of time that we have to be really open to it."

Quite how open they are to losing Guehi this summer remains unclear but the defender's value continues to drop by the week at present and while Liverpool's search for defensive reinforcements is being done with a long-view lens, a decrease of the numbers for the Palace star could force a change in stance at Anfield.


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