Let’s talk contracts. Why not? It’s a new subject, fresh and gripping and rarely discussed on Merseyside right now.
Or maybe this isn’t the time to be facetious: Liverpool have been plagued by the uncertainty circling three of their superstars this season, with Arne Slot’s brilliant tactics serving as the tonic that has saved the club from spinning out of control.
As it is, Liverpool are in pole position in the Premier League and have been hailed as “the best team in the country” by renowned journalist Henry Winter.
Slot is a bright new voice in the English game, en route to a silver-laden finish in a first-step campaign. How has he done it? How has he succeeded Jurgen Klopp with such success, merely dipping his pinky into the summer transfer market?
Federico Chiesa is the only first-team signing at the club, and even he has scarcely featured due to injuries. Liverpool need to make signings in 2025, to be sure, but they must also sell, such is the way of football.
Liverpool planning to sell
Slot has no wish to command a bloated squad on Chelsea’s scale, or example, and thus will only move to strengthen if certain players move on.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk will all need replacing if they leave. More precisely, FSG will need to target cream-of-crop quality to keep Slot’s system afloat.
It’s safe to say that sporting director Richard Hughes would keep them all on the books if he had his way, however, wages and technicalities of all shapes and sizes are hindering resolutions.
Elsewhere, there are a few first-team stars who would be willingly sold. According to reports, Darwin Nunez has been made available for transfer as his goalscoring troubles continue, with Liverpool looking to reclaim an ambitious £60m sum for their record signing.
Matches (starts)
29 (19)
36 (22)
15 (7)
Goals
9
11
2
Assists
3
8
2
Shots (on target)*
2.9 (1.3)
3.0 (1.3)
1.4 (0.5)
Big chances missed
20
27
3
Chiesa could also be on the move, though Slot is understood to have rejected the prospect of the Italy forward leaving this month as a charge across multiple fronts is mounted over the coming months.
Away from Slot’s senior crop, Ben Doak is also at risk of being sold, with no shortage of suitors looking to bring him in.
Liverpool willing to sell their biggest talent
Liverpool loaned Doak, 19, to Middlesbrough in the summer and he has since gone from strength to strength with the Championship side, with his teammate Tommy Conway gushing over his ability to “cause carnage on the pitch.”
The plan has been for Doak to return to Kirkby at the end of the term, but January bids from Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town have caused Liverpool to re-think things.
While the clubs’ respective £16m and £15m offers were deemed unacceptable, FSG have responded with raised stakes, suggesting they’ll play ball, so to speak.
Despite holding out for a tall £30m figure, Liverpool would reluctantly accept £25m for the Scotland international, as per Football Insider.
This would be a grave mistake.
Why Selling Doak would be a dreadful mistake
Doak has clinched eight goal contributions from 21 Championship matches this season, exhibiting his creativity and combativeness to an emphatic effect.
Liverpool welcomed the youngster from Celtic for a nominal fee back in 2022, but that doesn’t mean that they should let him go just because they’d claim a big profit. Just take a look at Tottenham Hotspur’s Dominic Solanke, who Liverpool sold to Bournemouth for £19m six years ago.
The intervening years allowed Solanke, now 27, to foster his attacking skills, but there’s little question that he’s endowed with the faculties fit for Liverpool’s senior squad now, and the same could be said for Doak, who is probably an even bigger talent than the number nine was in his youth.
Former Scotland manager Craig Levein has claimed: “this kid could be a world-class player.” You’d have to admit that he’s in the tallest echelon of teenage talents plying their art right now, behind the likes of Lamine Yamal and Endrick but not by the longest distance.
As per FBref, Doak ranks among the top 8% of positional peers in the Championship this season for assists, the top 7% for shot-creating actions and the top 1% for progressive carries per 90. This perfectly highlights his pace and his ability to make things happen with the opportunities he crafts for himself.
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
Liverpool chiefs may well use the Solanke sale as a gauge, observing that Doak might only have scratched the surface of his full potential and thus must be kept at the club for the coming years. Slot may even entertain the notion of another loan move next year, perhaps in more prominent territory.
Whether Liverpool would have used Solanke’s talents is almost immaterial, for Bournemouth banked a whopping £65m cheque for the England international when Tottenham came calling this summer. Might Palace or the like be claiming a similarly hefty figure for Doak in several years?
Solanke has scored 11 goals and added five assists across 26 games for Tottenham this season, noted for his “unbelievable” quality by Ange Postecoglou.
While you can’t rue the deal to sell a young and inexperienced Solanke on too greatly, he’d perhaps be a regularly starting member of Slot’s current unit, more complete and clinical than Nunez at present.
Ultimately, FSG will have informed Hughes to accept a sizeable bid worth £25m for Doak’s touted signature and will have no scruples about putting the cash in the bank.
However, there’s little question that the Reds may come to feel the bite of Doak’s quality if they do allow him to foster his high-class talent at a divisional rival.
Solanke is now thriving as the focal frontman of a struggling Tottenham team, yes, but also one that boasts one of the most fearsome frontlines in the country.
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