What the ECHO was told about summer transfers as Liverpool become marked men
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(Image: Getty Images)On the roof of the open-top bus behind the carriage that was ferrying the triumphant Liverpool squad across the city on May 26, the conversation turned to what was, at the time, only the hope of a free-spending summer.
Arne Slot's side might have cantered to the Premier League title with four games to spare to eventually win it by 10 points - despite not picking up a victory in any of their final four games - but there was a sense of finality for some in the squad.
For Trent Alexander-Arnold, that was already confirmed, with a new challenge awaiting him at Real Madrid, while players like Caoimhin Kelleher, Darwin Nunez and even Luis Diaz knew this was likely their swansong in red.
READ MORE:NgumohaREAD MORE:Liverpool have inconvenient truth over £125m Alexander Isak transfer as long game awaits Arne Slot
For others, like Harvey Elliott, Jarrel Quansah and Kostas Tsimikas, the future looked a bit more opaque at the end of May, but thoughts of a future away from Anfield had at least infiltrated the thinking of each by this point.
Sporting director Richard Hughes, having lay virtually dormant for his first year on Merseyside, was tasked with rebuilding a squad that was not necessarily in need of an overhaul, even if it was hurtling towards a window that has since moved away from notions of evolution to instead skirt the edges of revolution.
"He's the best in the business," remarked one recruitment source about Hughes, who, it was stressed, would not be hogging any of the limelight on the bus in front as Calvin Harris blared the setlist across the city streets while over one million flocked to celebrate their heroes.
When the informal chatter turned to Florian Wirtz and claims of a major breakthrough with Bayer Leverkusen for the Germany international, the ECHO was told: "It's going to be an exciting summer we think, certainly for supporters."
And as the window slammed shut at 7pm on Monday evening, those words were proven to be eerily prophetic.
A total of £444m spent is, obviously, a record one by Liverpool's standards, but the high turnover in playing staff means Hughes and his staff were able to recoup around half of that, shedding the squad of key performers and well-liked players like Diaz, Elliott, Nunez and, yes, Alexander-Arnold, all without ever giving off the feeling that it was either a firesale or a stripping of assets.
Many have championed the work undertaken inside the Anfield recruitment department during a pivotal summer that has set the club up for the coming years but before there is any patting of backs at the AXA Training Centre, the new arrivals will have to deliver.
That is something Mohamed Salah recognised when he spoke of Arsenal being title favourites on the eve of their visit to Anfield on August 31, due to the fact that Mikel Arteta has largely kept the same core in recent years, allowing them to organically build up the sort of understanding that helped Slot's team last time out.
This time, things are different at Anfield and the nine players in and the 10 out feels like a huge changing of the guard, which Salah admits must be kept in mind for those expecting instant results.
"So far I didn’t figure the connections out yet," Salah recently conceded of the new-look frontline.
I knew their game very well but with Hugo he’s still new.
"Sometimes I need the ball in the field.
With Alexander Isak now joining alongside fellow new signing Hugo Ekitike, Salah is now effectively trying to win a third Premier League title with as many different frontlines on Merseyside.
Add Wirtz in to that equation and while it is an incredibly talented group of attacking players, there will be some adjusting time needed before teams are put to the sword with the kind of regularity that might be expected from such an embarrassment of riches.
Wirtz, the jewel of Germany, is an archetypal playmaker who combines a real work ethic with perpetual motion.
At £116m, he was temporarily the most expensive footballer in British football history, prior to the arrival of his new team-mate Isak, whose drawn-out and at times tedious saga with Newcastle United was put out of its misery on deadline day for a princely sum of £125m.
Such an outlay understandably has led to claims of a deviation from the strategy that has underpinned Liverpool's success under owners Fenway Sports Group, but key figures at Anfield are too risk-averse to place the club in any sense of jeopardy when it comes to the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Regulations.
This summer's net spend sits at around the £193m mark when Elliott's £35m move to Villa at the end of his season-long loan spell is factored into the mathematics.
Even if the optics are of a club radically changing their modus operandi.
The ruthlessness of Liverpool this summer has been illustrated by their ability to fight off both Manchester City and Bayern Munich to land Writz, while the snaring of both Ekitike and then Isak has essentially ruffled the hair of the upstarts at Newcastle, who are likely still smarting from a chastening summer.
But if supporters are gleeful in their insistence that the Reds are once more acting like the biggest club in the country, those bombastic assertions must now be backed off on the pitch itself.