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Liverpool has started the 2025/26 season more slowly than it would have liked, but Arne Slot has plenty of things to look forward to across the course of the next few months
Liverpool will look back on 2025 with mixed emotions. There was the high of winning the Premier League title, but several lows, including the impossibly difficult passing of Diogo Jota.
On the field, Arne Slot's side reached the pinnacle — giving most fans something they had waited a lifetime for — but has since struggled after a summer of changes.
Fortunately, there is much to play for during the new year. Slot's men are playing catch-up in the Premier League, but there is still a chance to go far in Europe, with lots more to look forward to besides.
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Having already beaten both Madrid clubs, Liverpool has shown itself capable of playing well in the biggest fixtures. In the Champions League, it has probably played its best stuff.
If its top stars can get into some form, it would not be crazy to think that Liverpool could reach the latter stages in Europe. And given much comes down to the luck of the draw — or lack of it, as the Reds found last season when they drew PSG — you can't rule anything out.
Slot has already won the Premier League at Anfield. Going far in Europe is the next logical thing to target, with some evidence already emerging that it could be a route to success.
Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak ignite
In part with one eye on what Liverpool looks like when Mohamed Salah moves on — whenever that ends up being — the Reds spent big on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, among others, in the summer.
So far, we have seen flashes from Wirtz, but little more. Isak, meanwhile, is yet to really get going. In the next couple of months, though, that has to change. Both players are simply too good for it not to.
For Wirtz, there have already been positive signs. The German is clearly getting up to speed with the English game, and he looks stronger than when he arrived.
With Isak, things are quite simple: he somehow needs to have a mini-pre-season while the campaign is ongoing. A couple more goals here and there would do his confidence the world of good.
Center-back solution
While it did a lot of reworking last summer, Liverpool still has more work to do. Chiefly, there are major decisions to be made at center-back for a variety of reasons.
Ibrahima Konate, as things stand, is out of contract at the end of the season. Virgil van Dijk is much closer to the end of his career than the start, while Joe Gomez is prone to injury.
Marc Guehi was nearly signed in September for a reason, and Giovanni Leoni looks to be a huge talent. Even if Guehi arrives — and there will be competition from elsewhere — there is an argument for signing another player in that position too.
Ideally, Konate, though he hasn't had the best season, would agree a contract extension too. The Frenchman is only 26, and it would seem a waste for him to leave on a free.
Contract and Mohamed Salah certainty
Liverpool has some big calls to make in 2026. Konate, as mentioned, is one. What happens next with Salah — which might be down to him as much as anyone else — is another.
After throwing his future into doubt only a couple of weeks ago, things have calmed down a little with Salah. A January exit would seem premature. But what about the rest of the contract he signed back in April?
The Egyptian, in an ideal world, would come back from AFCON determined to win his place in the team back. If he plays like he did against Brighton, Salah could help fire Liverpool to more glory — if nothing else, that would seem like a much better way to bow out.
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