Liverpool Notebook: £36m savings key to transfer plans as defender tipped to return

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It's now less than two weeks until Liverpool return to the AXA Training Centre to begin their pre-season schedule.After a week at the club's Kirkby base under the watch of new head coach Andoni Iraola, the Reds fly to the United States for their North American tour of Nashville, New York and Chicago.Jeremy Jacquet, the club's new £60m centre-back, will be on board after his move from Rennes was formally completed on Thursday. He is expected to be joined soon after by a host of the club's World Cup contingent, including Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.Before the summer schedule really ramps up, though, the ECHO brings you the latest Liverpool Notebook piece.

Here's the latest.Jacquet keen to learn from Van DijkOne of the key reasons for Jeremy Jacquet choosing Liverpool over Chelsea back in the dying embers of the January transfer window was the opportunity to play alongside Virgil van Dijk.The Reds skipper is 14 years his new team-mate's senior and with a storybook career that includes having won the Champions League and Premier League twice, Van Dijk's CV is the envy of many across the world game.So the chance to work with the enormously experienced Van Dijk is ideal for the £60m Jacquet as he prepares to turn 21 later this month.Jacquet spoke about his new captain's enduring quality in his first official interview as a Reds player, telling Liverpoolfc.com: “Of course, I am very excited to be next to a great player like [Van Dijk].“I think he is up there with the best centre-backs in the world currently, so I can only learn from him.“I don’t like to use the word ‘idol’, not even for the best players I admire, but naturally he’s a player I look up to.“For me, he is one of the best central defenders, and if I want to reach the very top, I’ve got to absorb as much as I can from him, obviously.”Barnes backs Quansah returnLiverpool legend John Barnes has backed the pursuit of Jarell Quansah at Bayer Leverkusen, saying an Anfield return would be ideal for the England international.The Three Lions centre-back moved to Leverkusen from Liverpool last summer in a £35m deal, with the Warrington-born defender keen for more game-time at a club who were in the Champions League last season.However, the Reds have a buy-back clause written into the terms, thought to be at around £60m, and have already agreed the terms of Quansah's contract should they trigger the fee with Leverkusen.Barnes thinks a comeback could be ideal for both Liverpool and Quansah, who rose through the ranks on Merseyside having joined as a junior.“He felt like he needed more first-team opportunities when he left Anfield and that’s what he got," Barnes told Betfred. "He needed to leave to grow and become a better player and now he may want to come home."It would be a great move for him because this isn’t the strong Liverpool team that he left.

He would be given much more opportunities now than he would have done before he left.“Virgil [van Dijk] is a centre-back and he doesn’t have long left, so that’s another reason why I think it’ll be a good move."Bayer Leverkusen think highly of him and if that move were to happen I think it could be a good move for Liverpool and Jarell.”FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook pageWage bill easedThe June 30 departures of Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah has eased Liverpool's wage bill considerably.That is particularly true of Salah, whose wage packet of around £400,000 is the biggest ever contract given out at Anfield.Virgil van Dijk, who, like Salah, signed a new deal in April of 2025, is now believed to be the club's highest earner as he enters the final year of his own deal just shy of his 35th birthday.Konate remained on the same terms he signed when he joined from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2021, but the long-serving Robertson, who was vice captain before his exit, signed fresh terms five years ago when he was firmly established as one of the finest left-backs around.So it's fair to say that Liverpool are now saving a huge amount by the departures of three players who were so important to the team that won the Premier League title in 2025.The easing of the wage bill, theoretically, can free Liverpool up to reinvest the money saved on bolstering the squad further following the arrivals of Victor Munoz and Jeremy Jacquet so far, two players who won't be among the biggest earners in the squad.For obvious reasons, Premier League players' salaries are not for public consumption, but a conservative estimate of all three players' weekly wages could see the Reds save as much as £36m from what was paid out across the 25/26 term for Konate, Salah and Robertson.That should give the club plenty of wriggle room when it comes to negotiating contracts for incoming players and negotiating with the current crop who are in line for talks going forward.