Liverpool’s 23/24 season is over, Jurgen Klopp’s nine-year reign has reached its end, and Arne Slot has officially been confirmed as the Reds’ new head coach.
So what do we do now for the next six weeks before Liverpool reports back for pre-season, with Euro 2024 only offering a slight distraction in the interim? We turn our attention to the transfer window, of course!
The Premier League confirmed last week that their summer transfer window would open on Friday 14 June, with deadline day subsequently taking place on Friday 30 August. Yet the Reds could technically sign a player before the transfer window even opens, if they so wished.
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They have been free to discuss pre-contract agreements with overseas-based players out of contract this summer since January 1. Meanwhile, they will be free to open talks with English-based soon-to-be free agents from June 1.
Admittedly, such transfers have been rare at Anfield in recent years. Under Klopp, Liverpool signed just seven players on free transfers.
Historically when the Reds move for an out-of-contract player, it tends to be either a back-up goalkeeper or a highly-talented youngster who would still command a compensation fee. From Klopp’s seven free agents signed since October 2015, Alex Manninger, Adrian, and Andy Lonergan ticked the former box, with Dominic Solanke, Harvey Elliott, and Fabio Carvalho all fulfilling the latter.
As a result, that leaves Joel Matip as the only big-name Bosman transfer completed under Klopp’s watch, with Liverpool confirming they had signed a pre-contract agreement with the then Schalke defender in February 2016. Meanwhile, you have to go back to the summer of 2015 when bringing in James Milner and Adam Bogdan from Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers for the last time the Reds signed a domestic-based free agent.
Yet a handful of high-profile Bosman transfers are anticipated this summer, with Kylian Mbappe the biggest name set to move on after agreeing to join Real Madrid when his Paris Saint-Germain contract expires. And while Liverpool have long found themselves out of the conversation when it comes to the Frenchman, they have still been linked with a number of other soon-to-be free agents.
In the market for a new centre-back with Matip now confirmed to be leaving at the end of his own deal, the Reds have been linked with both Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo and AFC Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly in recent months.
Admittedly, the former now looks set to move elsewhere with the Daily Mail reporting that Adarabioyo is closing in on a deal to join Newcastle United. For the record, they also claim the Magpies are interested in Kelly.
Kelly has been on Liverpool’s radar twice before though, prior to his recent links with a move to Merseyside. Having caught the eye with Bristol City in the Championship, the Reds had wanted to sign the then-20-year-old as a deputy to Andy Robertson in the summer of 2019, only for him to join Bournemouth in a £13m deal instead with such a price putting off Anfield bosses.
And the defender was shortlisted as a potential target again 12 months later following the Cherries’ relegation. On a four-man shortlist along with Kostas Tsimikas, Jamal Lewis and Sergio Reguilon, the Reds ultimately opted to move for the Greek, with Kelly only their ‘fourth-choice’ target and disregarded following the failed pursuit in 2019.
However, new sporting director Richard Hughes, having joined Liverpool from Bournemouth, knows Kelly well having played a vital role in bringing the defender to the Vitality Stadium in the first place.
In April 2021 when speaking to the Official AFC Bournemouth Podcast, he revealed the extent of scouting the Cherries had done on the defender prior to signing him.
“Lloyd Kelly, it wasn’t just his appearances for England Under-21s and Bristol City’s first team where we had scouted him,” he said. “There was a body of work that had gone into him in younger age-groups at Bristol, which gives you the ability to act quicker I think.
“So when Lloyd comes on and does really well in one Championship game, you kind of know that was always going to happen if you looked at him beforehand.”
Clearly, he is a player that Hughes knows well and one that both Liverpool and their new sporting director have done their homework on over the years. He would also be best-placed to recommend the defender to the Reds if convinced he could be a successful signing at Anfield – or discourage them and instead lead a search elsewhere as the club weigh up centre-back targets.
Regardless of Liverpool, Adarabioyo and Kelly are free to sign pre-contract agreements from June 1, with their futures currently set to be resolved quickly as a result. But while Reds moves for either defender perhaps seem unlikely despite transfer speculation during the season, they aren’t the only domestic free agents the club have been linked with.
Slot will likely need to sign a new goalkeeper this summer also, as speculation regarding the futures of Alisson Becker, Caoimhin Kelleher, and Adrian continues.
Alisson is reportedly attracting big-money interest from Saudi Arabia, while, after five years as the Brazilian’s deputy, it seems inconceivable that second-choice Caoimhin Kelleher would stay put at Anfield if the 25-year-old is to remain as only back-up.
While a departure for the Brazilian would open the door for the Republic of Ireland international to become Liverpool’s new number one, at this point you would suspect that it is Kelleher who is more likely to move on, in search of first team football, than Alisson.
Elsewhere, veteran third-choice Adrian has already hinted that while he hasn’t held talks with the Reds about his future, he expects to move on at the end of his contract this summer, with the 37-year-old eyeing up a return to Spain. However, the Spaniard wasn’t actually confirmed to be leaving Liverpool along with fellow would-be Bosmans Matip and Thiago Alcantara last week, with his future still uncertain as a result.
Either way, it would not be a surprise if the Reds waved off one, if not two, of their senior goalkeepers this summer. And while the likes of Vítezslav Jaros could look to force his way up the pecking order at Anfield following a successful loan at Sturm Graz, should he not seek another exit, the arrival of a new goalkeeper at Anfield this summer appears logical as a result.
Liverpool have actually already been linked with a couple of shot-stoppers. Reports in the Netherlands suggest they could be interested in Feyenoord’s Justin Bijlow, while the Daily Mail claimed earlier this month that they are monitoring Southampton veteran Alex McCarthy as they draw up a shortlist of back-up goalkeepers.
The one-time England international has finished the season strongly with the Saints since regaining his place at the expense of the injured Gavin Bazunu, and is looked to win promotion back to the Premier League via the play-offs with the South Coast club.
However, out of contract in the summer, the 34-year-old could prove to be an attractive option for Premier League sides pursuing a back-up goalkeeper, given both McCarthy’s homegrown – when it comes to naming 25-man squads for domestic and European competition – and potential free agent status. As a result, should Adrian depart, he would be a possible replacement.
Newcastle United – them again – are also said to be interested in the shot-stopper as a result, while Celtic, managed by former Reds boss Brendan Rodgers, are said to be considering McCarthy as they consider replacements for the recently-retired Joe Hart. Coincidentally, Kelleher has also been linked with a move to the Hoops in recent months.
Liverpool have actually been interested in signing McCarthy before, with Rodgers the manager when the Reds made a move for the goalkeeper back in 2014.
The pair had worked together at Reading, and were poised to reunite at Anfield, only for McCarthy to end up snubbing Liverpool’s advances after an 11th hour phone call from Harry Redknapp, then manager of Queens Park Rangers, when about to board a train to Merseyside.
But 10 years on and in the market for a back-up goalkeeper again, the Reds could reportedly be set to reignite interest in the veteran shot-stopper.
And while his future likely won’t be resolved until after the Championship Play-Off final on Sunday, if Liverpool want to move for McCarthy, they could sign a pre-contract agreement from June 1 to make him Slot’s first signing before the transfer window even opens.