Liverpool have three days to justify £95m decisions as transfer deadline looms

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net.

Luis Diaz is presented as a Bayern Munich player after completing his transfer from Liverpool (Image: Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)

A key part of Liverpool's ability to ensure the summer transfer window of 2025 has reached historic levels has been their ability recoup as aggressively as they have spent.

The Premier League champions have so far managed to raise around £215m to offset an outlay of around £320m.

That is why they are still able to await encouragement over Newcastle United for a potential British-record deal for Alexander Isak.

A figure of £105m net is not an insignificant one, but at a time when the Reds are expected to post record-breaking revenues in their next set of accounts - aided by winning the Premier League, a new-and-more-lucrative Champions League and the 10-year agreement with Adidas, which is worth well in excess of £60m a year - it's easy to see why there are no concerns of pushing on and further improving their squad.

READ MORE:Liverpool make Harvey Elliott transfer decision after £51m Tottenham Hotspur moveREAD MORE:Arne Slot had perfect Liverpool explanation for Florian Wirtz question after Newcastle struggles

The time to actually do that this month, however, is running out.

And while the work undertaken to date this summer looks impressive on the early evidence, there are two others that Liverpool have agreed to that will need to be justified before the September 1 deadline.

The first one centres around the decision to offload Jarell Quansah at the start of July to Bayer Leverkusen.

The initial fee of £30m may yet rise to by an additional £5m but knowing full well the potential they were allowing to leave the club, the Reds have already negotiated a buy-back clause, which is thought to be in the region of £60m.

On top of that agreement, it's also understood that Quansah has already ironed out the finer details of the contract he will be tied to at Anfield, should his former club return for the England Under-21 international.

In that sense, then, it may be possible to view Quansah as a ready-made replacement for captain Virgil van Dijk in two years' time, should he develop into a fully-fledged England international, as had been the expectation following his rise under Jurgen Klopp in the 2023/24 term.

The transfer was viewed as being 'the best both worlds' at Liverpool, allowing a young player the time and space to improve away from the intense glare of the Anfield spotlight with regular first-team football at a club with lofty ambitions, all while retaining a degree of control on his future, should he improve to the levels that had been anticipated.

The arrival of Giovanni Leoni technically makes up for the Quansah-shaped hole in the squad but the young Italian has only featured in 17 senior games for Parma.

The Warrington-born Quansah played 58 times for the Reds, without ever being first-choice for a prolonged period, and is now a club-record transfer for the team that won the Bundesliga title barely 12 months ago.

While Leoni offers elite-level potential, Quansah is a more experienced defender and it is why the admiration for Marc Guehi remains as the transfer window enters its final weekend before Monday's 7pm deadline.

With a teenage Leoni alongside an injury-prone Joe Gomez as cover for Ibrahima Konate and Van Dijk in the centre-back department, it would be a risk not to take advantage of Guehi's contract situation at Crystal Palace, particularly given he is open to a switch, if a sum can be agreed.

But it is down the other end of the pitch where the decisions to offload are felt more acutely.

But few things can ever be viewed as such in football and failing to recruit a forward player of a similar stature leaves Liverpool at risk of being caught short up top.

Inside two games of the new campaign, Arne Slot has already had to rely on late interventions from Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha to secure vital victories over Bournemouth and Newcastle United.

And, while the Reds' head coach might argue that points towards strength in depth in the frontline, overly burdening Ngumoha, 17 on Friday, with too many demands and responsibilities would feel harsh, even if there is real belief he can become a star in time.

For Chiesa, he is attempting to enjoy a more productive second campaign in English football having barely kicked a ball in the Premier League last time out.

Expecting a sudden return to the form that made him one of the most highly-rated attackers on the continent four years ago might veer into unrealistic realms.

So while the fee received for a wantaway Diaz, who enjoyed his best year as a Liverpool player last term before being sold, must be considered a success, the ongoing efforts to make sure the forward department is not weakened by his exit must be stepped up before Monday evening.

Of course, for a club guided by Fenway Sports Group's CEO of football Michael Edwards, the Reds are unlikely to recruit purely for the sake of it and waiting for Plan A is generally considered a better course of action than pivoting to an inferior Plan B, particularly at this level.

Article continues below

That, though, is a risk in itself as the possibility of the window closing without Alexander Isak at Anfield begins to loom ahead of a critical weekend.

Liverpool now have three days to justify two sales and the clock is now ticking.