Liverpool summer finances explained as £35m fsg clue emerges

Liverpool summer finances explained as £35m fsg clue emerges


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LIVERPOOL OWNERS FENWAY SPORTS GROUP LOOK SET TO SPLASH THE CASH THIS SUMMER, BUT WITH PRINCIPLES INTACT 15:00, 02 Jun 2025 Liverpool and the summer transfer window have had an uneasy


relationship in recent years when it comes to some sections of the supporter base. The line of ‘next summer’ being regularly trotted out when major additions don’t happen has become a


mainstay of the social media discourse. But this summer could well be different for the Reds, with the owners Fenway Sports Group and the recruitment team at the club already showing a


willingness to partake in the market in a significant way in the next couple of months, getting business done early. Jeremie Frimpong was the first through the door, the 24-year-old arriving


from Bayer Leverkusen for €35m (£29.5m), a direct replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold, who completed a £10m move to Real Madrid after spurning the chance to extend his time at Anfield.


The exit of Alexander-Arnold can’t be trumpeted as any kind of success for the club really. He was an academy graduate who has a market value as high as £100m last year and who leaves the


club for 10% of that, although getting that 10% has been a move worthy of some praise given the figures of £1m that had been bandied around to enable an early release to join Real at the


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City’s lost £348million of value after Jeremie Frimpong deal But it wasn’t all in Liverpool’s hands, and the view was taken that they thought that they may be able to convince him to stay,


and that even if they weren’t able to then the chances of success and the pots of cash that come with it were greater with him in the side. The fact that Liverpool were crowned Premier


League champions and were squeezed out of the Champions League by the eventual winners of the competition maybe vindicates that. But it’s all about who comes in now, and what Liverpool have


in terms of financial power, and also those players that they could sell on to aid moves for others. Article continues below Others, of course, includes arguably European football’s hottest


talent in 22-year-old Florian Wirtz. The Reds are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a move and the player, reportedly, has his sights set on Anfield. Reports also state that the Reds are


now on bid number two for the German international, ironing out what the add-ons might look like. A sum of up to €130m (£110m) appears to be the general consensus of the second bid, with


Bayer holding out for £16m more. Then there is Milos Kerkez at Bournemouth, a player who Liverpool have been linked with heavily, with reports claiming that a £40m bid is imminent for the


21-year-old Hungarian left-back. It doesn’t end there, either, with others such as Eintracht Frankfurt’s 22-year-old striker Hugo Ekitike linked, with the Reds said to be in the market for a


number nine, something that doesn’t bode particularly well for Darwin Nunez’s future on Merseyside. Reports in Germany have claimed that Frankfurt have hiked the price of Ekitike to €100m


(£84m), a sum that the Reds almost certainly won’t pay. Whether there is a compromise to be had in terms of a fee or potential player swap remains to be seen, but sums of around the £50m


mark would appear more likely for Liverpool to pursue such options. There is the very real possibility that Liverpool could end up spending close on £250m this summer, and that may even


increase should there also be a defensive addition thrown into the mix, with that likely dependent on what happens with the ongoing contract negotiations with Ibrahima Konate to extend his


Reds stay. Financially, there are few in the Premier League better placed than Liverpool right now to put some money to work in the transfer market from a position of strength. The Reds have


no concerns when it comes to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) or UEFA’s financial cost control rules which are assessed through a squad cost ratio. In terms of


PSR, the Reds, taking into account the financial year of 2024/25 which came to an end for Liverpool at the weekend, the headroom is likely above the £200m mark. But that isn’t to say that is


the money that will be put to work, that isn’t how this goes. The club will look to make these additions over the summer and try to be as cost-neutral as they possibly can be, although it


will spike the amortisation costs on the balance sheet for 2025/26. Amortisation for the Reds for the 2023/24 financial year, the most recently published set of accounts, showed that it


stood at £114.5m. Since 2019 that figure has remained largely the same, with it only £2m higher than it was six years ago. There is room for that to increase, although it will be offset by


the exit of some players. In terms of exits, goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher is set for an £18m switch to Brentford. That represents pure profit for the Reds as he is an academy graduate who


holds no book value. Then there is the potential for a Harvey Elliott exit (£40m with extremely limited book value), Kostas Tsimikas (£15m with limited book value), and Jarell Quansah (£40m


no book value). Then there is Nunez, who would likely command around £45m to £50m after a difficult time at Anfield, having cost £64m plus add-ons back in the summer of 2022 when he arrived


from Benfica. Nunez’s book value, which is based on the guaranteed sum, with add-ons featured in the accounts as exceptional items, will stand at around £26m, meaning that the Reds would


need to clear that to make any profit on the deal. Say they sold him for £50m then that is a £24m profit and removes £12.8m off the amortisation costs for the next two years, which is the


length of time he has left on his deal at the club. Elliott, who arrived for £4m in compensation in 2021, would represent near enough pure profit for the Reds due to his limited book value,


while Tsimikas has around £2m left on his book value, so over and above that would represent profit, potentially some £13m. Whether Quansah is allowed to leave remains to be seen, but with


some interest reported in the 22-year-old, say a sum of £40m arrived then that would be pure profit. There is the potential there, with those exits and the £10m for Alexander-Arnold, for


Liverpool to make a £143m sum, and that is money that can be accounted for straightaway, as incoming sums aren’t amortised like outgoing transfer fees are. It would provide plenty of capital


to aid cash flow to finance instalments for new signings and contract extensions. It would also wipe around £15m off the amortisation costs. In terms of additions, the deals, while paid in


tranches to clubs in terms of the cold, hard cash, are amortised over a maximum of five years. Using the figures quoted around potential new arrivals, Frimpong would come in at £5.9m per


year, Wirtz would be £24m per year, Kerkez would be £8m per year, and a £50m outlay for a number nine would be around £10m per year. That equates to an annual amortisation cost of £47.9m,


but with the outgoings taking the actual rise down to some £33m. That would still be a significant amount to add to amortisation costs that have largely been flat for six years, but would be


in line with the last time the Reds made a big splash in the market in 2019, when amortisation costs rose by £35m after the departure of Philippe Coutinho and arrivals of Virgil van Dijk


and Alisson Becker. The Reds have also increased revenues significantly since then, although wages have shot up, and that will be a consideration given the contract extensions of Van Dijk


and Mohamed Salah, the addition of Wirtz and Premier League bonuses. Alexander-Arnold’s exit and the arrival of a player in his position on significantly less will aid matters, though.


Article continues below Liverpool have benefited from being Premier League champions and will take home some £180m-plus this summer thanks to the central funding and merit payments. Then,


with Champions League revenue that includes additional matchday income of some £95m to £100m thanks to a near-flawless league phase, they have significantly improved their financial position


compared to a season spent in the Europa League. This mirrors the FSG effort from 2019, and it is one that should be instructive as to what comes next for Liverpool. This is a sign of FSG


doubling down on the Reds and a sign of bullishness for the future. They clearly sense the chance to be a dominant force in English and European football for some time to come with


additions, while that was a harder task when they last won it during the pandemic. This appears to be FSG’s way of building a dynasty for the next few years, and the willingness to engage in


major deals for young talent suggests that this is finally the summer that Reds fans have been craving in the transfer market.