Liverpool may have quietly built their team of the future as transfer plan comes off

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Jeremie Frimpong embraces Richard Hughes after signing for Liverpool(Image: LFC TV)

After a historic spend of £444m in the summer transfer window, the Liverpool squad has a fresh look about it for the season ahead.

Nine new players have joined across the course of the summer, with Arne Slot addressing areas of his squad that he felt needed most attention, while also moving on some who had started to drift towards the fringes under the Dutch coach at Anfield.

After it became clear Trent Alexander-Arnold would be seeking new pastures in Madrid, the Reds made Jeremie Frimpong their first capture of the summer, officially confirmed the Netherlands full-back as a Liverpool player on June 1, the same day Alexander-Arnold's defection to Real Madrid was completed.



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Florian Wirtz was next through the door in the second of three deals between the Reds and Bayer Leverkusen this summer, with the Germany international signing for an initial £100m sum in June before Milos Kerkez ended long-standing interest to join from Bournemouth in a £40m agreement.

Hugo Ektike and Giovanni Leoni followed in July and August, respectively, while the club also strengthened their goalkeeping department with experience, potential and quality in the shape of Freddie Woodman, Armin Pecsi and Georgia international Giorgi Mamardashvili, whose official arrival came in July after a £29m agreement with Valencia last year.

All of that activity, of course, was followed by the transfer deadline capture of Alexander Isak, who became the most expensive signing of all time in British football after his £125m switch from Newcastle United, completing a busy summer of spending that reached never-before-seen levels at Anfield.

Of course that headline figure was offset by around half of that coming in from sales and with 10 players leaving the club during the window, there is a fresh feel to proceedings ahead of the return to action this weekend.

Such an outlay won't become routine at Anfield, though, and there is a sense that the costly refresh has been powered through to redesign the squad not just for the coming campaign but the years ahead too.

With Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson all now comfortably inside their 30s and long-serving goalkeeper Alisson Becker set to turn 33 on October 2 himself, the Reds are most certainly preparing for a soft launch into a new era beyond a quartet of players who were instrumental to the success enjoyed over the last half a dozen years.

It's telling that Isak is the eldest of the summer arrivals at the age of 25 and the six-year deal he signed for the Reds means those at the club are convinced he can continue the sort of form that marked him out as one of Europe's best frontmen for the rest of his 20s at Anfield.

Frimpong, at 24, has his best years ahead of him as a Netherlands international, while Wirtz was widely regarded as one of the best young players on the continent at Leverkusen, hence the significant interest from Manchester City and Bayern Munich back in the summer months.

At the age of 22, the attacking midfielder is poised to take the next step of his exciting young career in the Premier League.

At 23, Ekitike is another who finds himself on the cusp of stardom at a relatively young age.

The former Eintracht Frankfurt striker has broken into the senior fold with France on the back of his excellent start to life on Merseyside, where he scored three times in August while helping the Reds to a flawless start to their title defence.

Kerkez, at 21, will become the long-term successor to Robertson, who is 10 years his senior, at left-back, while Mamardashvili, at 24, is being tipped to do the same for Alisson, whenever the vaunted Brazilian moves on.

Twenty-year-old Pecsi may also have a bright future at the club.

Italian centre-back Leoni doesn't turn 19 until late December and while his recent call-up to the Azzurri national squad didn't lead to game time, there is an expectation that, with the right development, he can become an excellent defender for the long term on Merseyside.

Liverpool have been searching for a defender of a younger profile for the last three summers before finally wrapping up a deal with Parma for Leoni shortly before the start of the new term last month.

Meanwhile supporters will become accustomed to 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha and 18-year-old Trey Nyoni featuring more prominently this campaign and the former has already announced himself to the wider footballing world following his 100th-minute winner against Newcastle last month.

Ngumoha became the youngest scorer in the club's history in the process, just days before his 17th birthday and it is easy to see why there is such excitement around him and his England Under-19 colleague Nyoni.

The potential to exercise the buy-back clauses of 22-year-old Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah, who moved to Aston Villa and Leverkusen this summer, also could bring down the average of the squad further, should both players realise their potential away from Anfield.

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That remains a theoretical point for now but there is no doubt that Liverpool's summer transfer business - while eye-catching in its expense - has been undertaken with at least one eye on the long-term health of the club.

Get the expensive signings right now and ultimately it could lead to savings on the wrong players further down the line.

Sporting director Richard Hughes and the recruitment department have armed Slot and his staff with a collection of elite players with their best years in front of them.