2 weeks ago
72
Soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire has outlined a myriad of reasons why Liverpool is in such a strong position this summer and is able to potentially complete the transfer of Alexander Isak.
The Newcastle forward dominated the news agenda on Thursday after he was omitted from the squad that flew to Asia. The 25-year-old is believed to be keen on leaving the Magpies this summer, with Liverpool seen as one of the few viable landing spots.
That’s despite the Reds committing to spending around $357 million (£265M) this summer, before potential add-ons for Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, which could push that figure closer to $392 million (£291M).
It’s a staggering amount, especially considering FSG had earned a reputation for being frugal in previous windows. But that careful approach is paying dividends now, revealed Maguire.
“Liverpool are in an incredibly strong position,” he told talkSPORT in a recent interview.
"First of all, in terms of the money coming in at Anfield, they now have an expanded stadium and the new tickets and the seats that are available are going to the hospitality, to going to corporate fans and the yield there tends to be very high.
"They've got the new shirt deal which comes in on August 1 with Adidas, that's going to be a substantial increase.
"They are incredibly popular with sponsors, and the sponsors will have paid bonuses for them winning the Premier League, so all of those are positives in terms of the money coming in.
“If you look at the players that have gone... Trent [Alexander-Arnold] has gone, he was on a very high wage, [Jarell] Quansah has gone - that will be pure profit. So they're actually in a strong position.
“And then I've got the figures in front of me in terms of spending and all of the old-school 'big six,' Liverpool were sixth in the position [of net spend] over the course of the last three to four years.
“So they've actually been keeping their powder dry and relatively to the other clubs. They spent a billion pounds less than Chelsea during that period. So they're actually in the position to spend now because they've been quite cautious in the last couple of windows.”
The verdict comes as Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan told The Athletic that he wants to make sure the Reds “behave” like one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“It doesn’t just happen; it’s been years in the making,” he said, on the club’s record-breaking summer, although he did admit this approach won’t become the norm.
“One of the things we’re constantly focused on is that ‘virtuous circle’. Trying to run the club in the right way to ensure that we can generate as much revenue as we possibly can. That obviously helps in terms of being able to put more back into the team, which is incredibly important from our perspective.
“We have been successful in doing that. It’s a huge credit to everyone on the football side and the business side, working together every single day to ensure we got to that point.
"We also recognize, having won the English league title for the 20th time, that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We want to make sure that we are behaving like one.
“Having massive global stars come and play at Anfield, filling out stadiums in Hong Kong and Japan, those are things we expect and want to do. We have a huge fanbase around the world who crave success and we’re working as hard as we can to win more trophies.”
English (US) ·