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? 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
The Reds could technically sign a player before the transfer window even opens, if they so wished.
They have been free to discuss pre-contract agreements with overseas-based players out of contract this summer since January 1.
They will be free to open talks with English-based soon-to-be free agents from June 1.
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
Joel Matip was the only big-name Bosman transfer completed under Klopp’s watch
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.
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
Kelly has been on Liverpool’s radar twice before though, prior to his recent links with a move to Merseyside.
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
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
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, Hughes said
“Lloyd Kelly, it wasn’t just his appearances for England Under-21s and Bristol City’s first team where we had scouted him,”
“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.
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