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Liverpool shattered records this summer in the transfer market, but it is yet to see any kind of return on the pitch. In fact, Arne Slot's side appears to be going backward after lifting the title last season.
At the November international break, the Reds sit eighth, having lost four of the last five in the league. It's a bleak picture for a team that was getting tipped to win the lot when the transfer window closed.
Most fans were a little more circumspect than that, but there's no denying that excitement was high. Liverpool was adding the likes of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak to a side already demonstrably the best in the country, which appeared to be a near-guaranteed recipe for success.
What's going wrong? The frustrating part is that it's hard to conclusively pinpoint.
It goes without saying that none of the new signings (except perhaps Hugo Ekitike) have settled especially well. But that looks likely to be more of a symptom than a cause.
Perhaps it's simply a case of getting further and further away from the Jurgen Klopp era. Maybe it was "long Klopp" that carried Liverpool to the title last year, with muscle memory maintaining a best-in-class pressing game for much of the campaign.
There may also be something to what Slot keeps repeating. Opponents are adapting to his version of Liverpool, and the onus is now on the Anfield staff to work out how to deal with the weekly barrage of long balls and low blocks.
Or maybe, despite all the new personnel, the obvious weaknesses have not been addressed. For all the summer spend, the heart of defense was entirely neglected, despite looking like one of the most urgent pressure points ahead of the transfer window.
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Liverpool thought it had landed Marc Guehi, only for the deal to fall apart. You have to wonder what the campaign might have looked like with him next to Virgil van Dijk, instead of the struggling Ibrahima Konate.
Of course, Liverpool's woes are a combination of multiple issues, including all the ones mentioned here; Guehi would not magically make everything better. But the Man City game was particularly damning for Konate, who was poor on the Erling Haaland goal and blatantly targeted as a weak link in Slot's build-up play.
Liverpool may yet return for the Crystal Palace defender. But Speaking to BOYLE Sports, who offer Champions League odds, former player Igor Biscan has put forward an alternative transfer solution.
"It's so difficult to predict (Croatia’s next big star)," Biscan said. "Maybe the next one or in the next year or two, it might be Josip Sutalo, who is now with Ajax.
"He's a center-back there and I think his physique and his style of play probably suits a Premier League level, and this is maybe the one that will be soon in England. It's not easy now to find another one, but let's say he's the one I expect to be there soon.
"Sutalo to Liverpool? I'm sure all those clubs know enough about all those players in other leagues, big teams, so yeah: it's possible for sure."
It was actually another Ajax defender getting linked to Liverpool in the summer, with Jorrel Hato's name being raised a number of times. He ended up at Chelsea.
But Sutalo could be an interesting one to monitor. At 25, he is further along in his development and boasts 28 caps for the national team.
In many ways, it's surprising that he has not been more vociferously linked with a move away from Ajax. He does appear ready for a step up.
With Ajax struggling in both the league and Europe, perhaps January will be the time for Sutalo to jump ship. And if Liverpool's situation is not much improved by then, maybe Biscan's tip could be worth following up.
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