So Liverpool enter transfer deadline day with most of their usual subplots already brought to a successful conclusion.
Sepp van den Berg became the latest to have his future resolved on Tuesday as he signed a new long-term contract at Anfield before completing a loan switch to Schalke for the season.
It's the type of deal Liverpool have become adept at in recent years, ensuring that their young hopefuls retain their value while on loan before potentially increasing it through impressive performances. Having made 50 appearances for Championship side Preston North End last term, a year in the Bundesliga is viewed as ideal for Van den Berg, who is still just 20.
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With Marcelo Pitaluga and Rhys Williams also out on loan, the one remaining issue to resolve on the outgoing front - barring a shock departure elsewhere in the squad - is Nat Phillips' situation, who remains on the books at Anfield.
Bournemouth have a long-standing interest in the centre-back having impressed on the south coast in the second half of last term to help their promotion push. The sacking of Scott Parker earlier this week, however, muddies the water over that potential deal on Thursday.
But it is the main storyline of a new midfielder that will garner most of the attention on Thursday. Liverpool, as Jurgen Klopp confirmed in his Tuesday press conference, have been assessing the market as they aim to ease an injury crisis in the middle of the park.
Unlike the injury crisis in defence back in 2021, though, there is not quite the same dramatic need for bodies in the centre of the pitch, despite what those banging the drum for more arrivals may believe.
While Liverpool had the grand total of zero fit, senior centre-halves in January 2021 following season-ending injuries for Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, the Reds still have Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Harvey Elliott available to them, while Curtis Jones returned to injury this week.
But while the picture may not be as bleak as those injury-hit, defender-less days of 18 months ago, that does not mean that should alleviate the pressure on the club to at least search far and wide to help out a manager who has admitted on a number of occasions that he would quite like a fresh addition to his engine-room ranks.
"Do I feel I've been backed? Yes," Klopp said on Tuesday. "This summer? What does it mean 'backed'? Look what I don't like about it now is if I say 'I am not sure' then we make a massive thing about it. But it's not [a big deal], I realise as well that it is always like this. Is it always easy? No. Do we discuss this kind of thing in public? Of course not. Why would we? We don't start now with it.
"So let me say it like this, from time to time I would be ready to risk a bit more but like I say I don't decide that. And that is then fine because I am like this, we try everything until someone tells us 'here's now the deadline, we can't do anything anymore' and that we can't. And in that moment, I don't think one second back and that's what we all have to do now."
Liverpool were interested in Monaco's Aurelien Tchouameni earlier this year only to be told the France international had his heart set on Real Madrid prior to completing his £85m move to the Spanish capital. Meanwhile links to Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham have never stopped, despite the Bundesliga side refusing to entertain any thoughts of selling the England star in the same summer they lost Erling Haaland to Manchester City.
Klopp confirmed in his Tuesday conference that there was a player the club wanted earlier this year and that his current first choice is not readily available, saying: "You all told me - you are the ones who ask the questions - do I need a midfielder? A 10th midfielder!? I am not sure, but we were going for a midfielder who decided to go to another club, which can happen.
"So at that moment it's now not like this 'oh we can't take him, so let's see if we can take another one'. Some players are not available at this moment but for us, it's really interesting. That's how it is.
"Now we can make a decision if we bring someone in, is it the right one? I'm not 100% sure. Short-term? probably yes. Long-term, I am not 100% sure. What does that mean for the next transfer [window]? All these things are going through my mind."
It does not require a particularly large leap of faith to believe that Klopp was referring to both Tchouameni and Bellingham as Liverpool look to address the long-term age profile of their midfield ranks.
Inevitably, the links have been arriving at a rate of knots over the last few days. Frenkie de Jong, Ruben Neves, Moises Caicedo and Sander Berge are just four of the players named in connection with the Reds. That number is only likely to swell further as the day goes on.
It would be most unlike Liverpool during the Klopp era to make a significant splash on transfer deadline day. The German, like most managers, would prefer the business was concluded weeks before the final day of player trading, but even for a club who pride themselves on the best-laid of plans, sometimes nimble footwork is needed to react to the fluid situation that develops.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's arrival in 2017 is perhaps the one big-money deal that stands out during Klopp's time on Merseyside. The Arsenal midfielder had made it clear he saw his future away from the Emirates and was being courted by Chelsea before the Reds made their move. It's this sort of opportunistic deal that Liverpool will have to repeat if they are to significantly bolster their options on Thursday.
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