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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Dave Powell

Liverpool are about to get £25m boost that could be decisive in summer transfer rebuild

As Liverpool Football Club prepares for a rebuild this summer under boss Jurgen Klopp, Anfield will see its fair share of arrivals and departures in the coming months.

The focus is understandably on who comes through the door to aid the effort or next season and ensure that the Reds secure Champions League football, which they look almost certain to miss out on following a topsy-turvy 2022/23 campaign.

Names such as Alexis Mac Allister and Mason Mount have been linked with potential moves to Merseyside, with the former looking like he had played his last game in front of home fans for current club Brighton & Albion during their 1-1 draw with Premier League champions Manchester City on Wednesday evening.

For Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group it is set to be one of the most expensive summer outlays since the American firm took control back in 2010.

READ MORE: Liverpool could repeat £36.9m transfer if Alexis Mac Allister and Mason Mount reject them

READ MORE: 'When you are lied to, it's hard to take' - Liverpool to miss out on transfer windfall after winger exit

The likes of Mac Allister and Mount have had sums of around £70m each touted around, and given the previous strength that Brighton have shown for negotiating the best possible price for their playing assets, it will be a hard bargain that they will once again be driving.

No Champions League football next season, allied with the fact that there aren’t too many saleable assets within the current squad who they could part ways with willingly to drum up some funds, means that it will be impactful for the Reds’ balance sheet moving forward.

There is, however, some room for manoeuvre given the departure of players at the end of their contracts, of which several are of a significant sum.

Heading the list of exits at Anfield is Roberto Firmino, who departs as a bona fide club great. Another fine servant, James Milner, is also set to leave while players who never quite managed to reach the heights hoped, such as Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, will drop off payroll in the coming weeks.

Rough estimates from media reports, including figures sourced from Capology, suggest that Liverpool could be making a saving of £480,000 per week, a sum of around £25m per year.

While such sums dropping off the wage bill will aid the financial outlook for the Reds, some of those players will need to be replaced given how important they have been to Liverpool and how the Reds need a strong squad to rotate during a campaign that will see them compete in the Premier League, most likely the Europa League, the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.

Liverpool’s wage bill stood at £366m for the 2021/22 financial year, a figure that placed them second in the Premier League list behind only Manchester United at £384m, will likely fall considerably for the 2022/23 accounting period, with the club having paid out considerable sums in performance related bonuses during the most recently published financial year. In 2020/21 the Reds’ wage bill stood at £314.3m, although the next financial year will take into account for the first time the new deal that Mohamed Salah signed last year.

The Reds, whose wages to turnover ratio stands at 61.6 per cent, considerably less than UEFA’s 70 per cent recommendation, have headroom to make additions, although missing on the potential £100m that the Champions League offers, with the Europa League’s earning power some 75 to 80 per cent less, meaning that there will be more strain placed upon the bottom line, although a spend is necessary to ensure that any absence from European football’s elite knockout club competition is not a prolonged one.

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