Although some things seem to change a lot, they actually have no changes in their essence.
If it will be in place earlier this month, but Valencia goalkeeper Mamadashvili, which was negotiated last year, Liverpool has spent more than £200 million on buying new players this summer.
Now, they are ready to spend more money. After 24 hours after they reported Newcastle that they had £120 million hoped to sign Isaac, they contacted Frankfurt again to introduce Ekitic (if this is done, their total expenses could reach about £300 million).
Speaking of which, as long as one of these two deals is formed, Liverpool will become the second-most-money team in English football history (second only to Chelsea spent more than 400 million pounds in the summer of the 23/24 season).
No matter what you think, this is a shocking number. After all, Liverpool's investment in the transfer window this summer is enough to sign a team of players like Mane (Mane transferred to Liverpool for £30 million in 2016, becoming the highest-priced African player at the time), and there is still money left.
Mane was signed before Liverpool went to the United States for the preseason. At that time, Klopp heard that his rival Manchester United might have to spend nearly 100 million pounds to welcome Pogba back, and the reaction was particularly fierce. He said that if the transfer fee is so high, he would rather not be a coach and do something else. "If football becomes like this, I will not do it, because football should be played together."
When Klopp left Liverpool in 2024, the Reds had the team with the least net investment in the Premier League BIG6 transfer window. But what after he left? Liverpool's transfer investment is starting to grow and increase - and because of this, people will surely think of his remarks from time to time.
If this crazy summer in 2025 means that Liverpool has changed its past strategy and is no longer calculating, but spends money on results like Saudi rich clubs, then they may indeed be said to be "double standards".
However, the reality that seems so magical is not actually as we imagined.
Fenway Sports Group is indeed very cautious and is not radical in terms of investment, but as long as the team is rich and in reality, they will let Liverpool spend money without any scruples - whether it is transfer or contract renewal.
One reason why Klopp was successful at Liverpool was that at the beginning he and his boss had similar ideas about buying and selling players. The goal is clear: you can buy cheap ones or expensive ones, but you must be able to sell them at a high price, and then use the money you earn to buy people.
Under Klopp, Liverpool's signings Van Dijk (£75 million) and Alisson (£66.8 million) both set records at that time, and the team also achieved great success. But the reason why Liverpool can afford this money is thankful to Coutinho.
With the Champions League and Premier League championships, Liverpool has become more skilled in the transfer market. With proper management of the top management, they can make more money by selling players. Meanwhile, the club's commercial revenue increased, and Anfield Stadium expanded, bringing more revenue, and now they are one of the most profitable teams in England.
When Klopp was coaching, Liverpool played in the Champions League for six of seven years and won the Champions League title. Recently, under the leadership of the new coach Slott, he won the Premier League championship despite not investing much in the summer window last year. It seems that this decision is either a magical operation or a good luck. At the end of May, Liverpool's financial report showed that they had obtained the highest share ever since the Premier League. And unlike in 2020, FSG does not need to reduce its plans because of worrying about the epidemic this time.
Also, although Slott's team lost to the final champion Paris Saint-Germain last season's penalty kick, they almost won all the group stage after the expansion, which brought about about £90 million in revenue.
Indeed, Liverpool spent a lot of money to keep Van Dijk and Salah, but at the same time, money also came in. This summer, sports director Richard Hughes has sold two of his own youth training players, making a net profit of about £45 million, and there may be players to sell - it seems that Nunes and Dias are on the verge of leaving the team.
Even as early as early June, Liverpool had been considering the issue of forward signings since Leverkusen signed Wilz with a record £100 million and additional terms. Everyone thinks this is a good opportunity: the team that won the championship is more confident to buy people in the market, and selling their own players can also ask for a higher price.
It is really uncomfortable to link the tragedy of Jota's sudden death with the transfer, but his death made it more urgent for the team to buy a new striker, and also made everyone more careful when considering "how to buy" and "when to buy", for fear of being disrespectful.
But after all, they were spending a lot of money in this transfer window, and their budget was enough to buy another key player. Perhaps the only thing that is a little different is the time when the money is spent this time.
In the past, FSG and Liverpool were criticized for not spending a lot of money after winning the championship. They spent money to catch up with Manchester City. Now, they want to speed up and get rid of Manchester City.
(Armour)