Over recent seasons Liverpool have become incredibly savvy operators when it comes to the transfer market.

Not only are the Reds now famed for their thorough approach to incoming deals, they have also built a reputation as being one of the best around at selling players, too.

With Michael Edwards at the helm, Liverpool have secured some excellent money for players who were either no longer needed or had pushed to leave the club.

Part of this has been utilising the quality within the Liverpool academy, and moving young players on when the time is right.

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This has been in evidence once again this year, with Jarell Quansah set to leave for Bayer Leverkusen.

Reports suggest Quansah will bank Liverpool around £35m in total, which would make him the most expensive sale of an academy player in Liverpool history.



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Although the Liverpool academy is well-known for bringing through a good amount of talent these days, its heyday was arguably in the 1990s.

Within a five-year period, Liverpool brought through Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard.

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Of that princely quartet, it is no surprise that two feature on this list.

Owen should certainly be higher, but with just one year left on his contract in 2004, the Ballon d’Or winner joined Real Madrid for just £8m, more or less the same as Los Blancos paid for Trent Alexander-Arnold earlier this month.

26 Dec 1999: Michael Owen of Liverpool celebrates after his secong goal during the Newcastle United v Liverpool FA Carling Premiership match at St James's Park, Newcastle.

Mandatory Credit: Ross Kinnaird/ALLSPORT

Three years before Owen left for Madrid, strike partner Fowler became Liverpool’s record sale as he joined Leeds in November 2001.

In reality, it was a sad end for the man nicknamed ‘God’ at Anfield, and he perhaps should have been kept around by Gerard Houllier.

Instead, Fowler was shipped off to Leeds for £11m, where injuries prevented him from hitting the heights of his days at Liverpool.

Thankfully, Fowler’s Reds story was not yet over, and he returned on a free transfer in 2006.

Fast forward to 2021, and the Liverpool academy was not quite as productive as the mid-90’s.

Nevertheless, the Reds were still producing a decent amount of talent, and were able to cash in after seeing Harry Wilson head out on a series of impressive loans.

Having done well at Fulham in their promotion-winning 2020/21 campaign, Liverpool enticed the Cottagers into buying Wilson in a permanent sale.

After playing only twice for the Liverpool first-team, Wilson was packed off for £12m in 2021.

Once Quansah completes his move to Bayer Leverkusen, two of Liverpool’s top four academy sales of all time will have happened under Arne Slot’s watch.

And while Quansah’s fee should be applauded in the corridors of Anfield, it is fair to say Liverpool were potentially underpaid for Caoimhin Kelleher.

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Kelleher was a brilliant understudy for Alisson Becker before leaving for Brentford just a matter of weeks ago.

The eventual fee could reportedly reach £18m, which would bump him up to the top of this list.

But, for now, the initial £12.5m keeps him in second.

Until the ink is dry on Quansah’s contract with Leverkusen, Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams will remain Liverpool’s all-time top academy transfer.

Williams was clearly too good to remain back-up to Alexander-Arnold after emerging through the ranks in 2019, and a loan at Championship side Fulham in 2021/22 confirmed that.

Happily, a Premier League move was in the offing for Williams, who joined Forest for a hefty-looking £17m in 2022.

Although the price-tag initially appeared to weigh on him a little, Williams has pushed on to become a consistent Premier League performer for Forest, and the fee has long since looked like good business all around.
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