The need for Liverpool to address the squad deficiencies that have hampered them this season means that significant investment is required from the club's owners Fenway Sports Group.
With Jurgen Klopp's side sitting ninth in the Premier League table after 12 games, having lost double the amount of matches already that they did in the entirety of last season's campaign, Reds fans have understandably been directing much of their ire to a lack of investment at key times in the first team.
It is understood the club is ready to act in the next two windows to address some of the issues, with the main name linked with a switch to Anfield being Borussia Dortmund's 19-year-old England midfielder Jude Bellingham, although to prise him away from the Bundesliga side would likely take £100m or more.
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Investment in the team is required in order to ensure that Liverpool don't fall behind their main rivals, especially at a time when new powers such as Newcastle United are threatening to emerge and challenge the established elite.
It will likely be a case of speculating to accumulate, with the Champions League, a competition that has become so key to the club's business model under FSG in recent seasons, under threat due to a poor start to the domestic season that has left the Reds with a lot of work to do to nail themselves down a top-four place.
Any transfer fee for incoming players is amortised, so the fee is divided over the length of the player's contract. For example, a £120m fee for Bellingham amortised over five and half years, should a January move transpire, would show in the annual accounts as an amortised figure of £21.8m.
That is, of course, a significant sum to add to the balance sheet, but the cost of missing out on Champions League football by not acting on bringing in transformational signings, whether it is Bellingham or someone else, means Liverpool face being without the major sums that arrive through competing in European football's premier knockout club competition.
The Reds punched their ticket to the last 16 of the Champions League before they ran out 2-0 winners over Napoli in midweek, but their success added another £2.4m to the prize fund they had accrued this season, one that stands at £21.6m thanks to five wins in the group and qualification for the knockout stages.
But including participation fees in the group stage through qualification, their UEFA co-efficient payments and their share of the TV market pool, Liverpool have already booked €82m (£71.4m) from this competition, according to figures presented by football finance expert Swiss Ramble on Twitter.
The Reds delivered over £100m in Champions League revenues last season, and to miss out on those kind of figures would be damaging for the club and its balance sheet in the shorter term, with the money on offer for Europa League qualification a fraction of what is available through Champions League qualification.
When Liverpool failed to act strongly in January of 2021, when faced with a poor start and a lengthy injury list, FSG were rightly criticised for a lack of action. The Reds managed to get themselves over the line despite a patched-up squad when the likes of Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams were forced to play prominent roles, bagging third spot after an excellent final stretch of the season.
The season there are greater challenges. Liverpool's issues aren't just injury related, they are also impacted by a loss of form by some key players in key areas. There is also the issue of resurgence among rivals, with Arsenal and Manchester United now very much back among the conversation after some lean years, while Newcastle's wealth, strong start and ability to build on that and add new signings in the January window.
The lack of activity in addressing the issues of January 2021 may have gone unpunished as Klopp managed to navigate his team through a challenging start and ensure a top-four spot; a lack of activity this time around may not end as well.
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