Wirtz, Isak & more - How Liverpool plan to fund their €450m squad rebuild this summer

Few clubs in European football have hit the ground running this summer as quickly as Premier League champions Liverpool. Last month, the club confirmed the signing of Bayer Leverkusen playmaker Florian Wirtz for a club-record fee of €125 million plus €15m in add-ons. Remarkably, the Anfield side had already spent around €42m on other players, prior to Wirtz’s arrival. But that number then ballooned out to a staggering €307m, following the arrival of Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for €46.9m and Hugo Ekitiké from Eintracht Frankfurt for €95m. And the Anfield club are seemingly not stopping there. 

 

How much do Liverpool plan on spending this summer?

Indeed, according to multiple reports Liverpool look set to continue their audacious rebuild of Arne Slot’s team ahead of the new season. Numerous reports in England are currently suggesting that Liverpool will now look to sign another striker in the form of Newcastle No.9 Alexander Isak. Such an audacious move will likely demand a transfer fee of at least £150m (€173m), which would then take Liverpool's summer spending to an eye-watering €481m. And there are even some suggestions that they'll need to sign at least one more central defender before the start of the new Premier League season. 

Should the Anfield giants complete the move for Isak and even sign another central defender, they would run the serious risk of breaking the record for the most money spent by a club in a single transfer window. As things currently stand, Liverpool sit sixth on that list but could easily surpass the current record, which is Chelsea's summer spending spree in 2023, when the Stamford Bridge club spent €464m on new players. So how do they plan to pay for that?

How much will Liverpool make from player sales this summer?

Much of Liverpool’s activity in this transfer window is funded by the club’s lack of spending last season, when the Anfield side actually made a €5m profit in the window. However, that alone won’t offset the club’s ambitious moves in the coming months, and to no great surprise, a number of star players have been lined up to be sold before the start of the new season. Alongside the €63.3m the club have earned from selling Trent Alexander-Arnold, Caoimhín Kelleher, Nat Phillips, and Jarell Quansah, Liverpool are also set to see star winger Luis Díaz depart the club this week.

According to Transfermarkt information, the Colombian winger will depart for Bayern Munich that will see the Anfield club earn a transfer fee in the region of €70m, with an additional €5m in very achievable add-ons. As such, that should take their income from this window alone to no less than €138.3m. And bring the club's net spend for the summer, prior to any moves for Isak, back down to a very manageable €170.4m. However, Diaz is unlikely to be the last player to leave the English champions in the coming month.

According to the Athletic, Liverpool are looking to push through the sale of Darwin Núñez, who has reportedly garnered serious interest from Serie A champions Napoli. Although the Uruguay forward cost the English giants €85m, Liverpool are only expecting around €50m for the out-of-favour goalscorer. Another big star that could be forced to move on this summer is Ibrahima Konaté. Although the French central defender is a crucial part of Slot’s team, he reportedly continues to reject contract offers and would be entering the final year of his current deal if he were to stay at the club this season without an extension in place.

When we add to that persistent rumours linking Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Harvey Elliott, Federico Chiesa and Stefan Bajcetic to the mix, it adds up to a total market value of just under €150m. Which means if the club do intend to sell all of these players alongside Núñez and Diaz, they could see their income from player sales reach a total of around €338m. Which would certainly go some way to offsetting the huge sums of money spent on new players ahead of the new season.