While the uncertainty created relating to the decision of Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group to open themselves up to offers for the football club the line has remained that it will be "business as usual" for the Reds and their custodians.
Liverpool chairman and FSG's second in command, Tom Werner, told the Boston Globe as much last month, and while there have been numerous names linked as potential bidders for Liverpool the ECHO has been told by well-placed US sources that there is "nothing real" at present and that a "strategic partner" remains the preferred outcome.
It is also understood that the ownership situation won't impact upon plans for the transfer market, although those moves are likely to come in the summer as opposed to January.
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One of the major criticisms of FSG since they have been owners of Liverpool has been their perceived lack of investment in the transfer market when compared with their rivals, the Reds often operating on a model of keeping a close eye on the balance sheet when it comes to acquisitions, with big purchases so often offset by outgoings, something that has led to something of a 'net spend' argument that has been levelled at the owners.
Over the past five years Liverpool's net spend sits ninth of 20, the Reds having a net spend of around £217m. The top five is made up of Manchester United (£546m), Arsenal (£440.4m), Chelsea (£384m), West Ham United (£356m) and Tottenham Hotspur (£331.5m). Premier League clubs that have seen a greater net spend than Liverpool over the same period include Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, while heavy sales from Manchester City has seen them land in 10th spot with a net spend of around £214m, the Citizens having won three Premier League titles during that period.
If it is to be next summer and not January it makes little difference to the outcome for Liverpool, with FSG faced with having to spend their biggest sums since taking charge and having little in the way of saleable assets within the squad to make a meaningful dent in the net spend should they pursue long-term target Jude Bellingham and a possible swoop for someone like Enzo Fernandez.
Liverpool need investment in key areas, notably midfield, something that has been heightened by windows of inactivity that created something the issue of an ageing squad and the requirement for multiple major investments at the same time, something that FSG had historically been successful at spreading over a period of time.
Their major net spend, if they do pursue their summer recruitment as aggressively as they need to, would break new ground for FSG, and in the case of Bellingham, a player who has been so heavily linked with Liverpool for more than two years and whose performances for England at the World Cup have only served to solidify his status as Europe's most promising and in-demand midfielder, they will almost certainly need to break a record that five of the other so-called 'big six' have already done.
When the transfer window opens in June 2023, Bellingham will still be 19, for the best part of a month at least. His performances for England and in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund have seen his market value rocket, with the expectation being that offers of £120m or more are likely to be required to engineer a deal.
Based on that figure, if they made a move before Bellingham turned 20 on June 29, Liverpool may have to smash the world transfer record for a 19-year-old, one set by Kylian Mbappe when he made the move from Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain for €140m (£122m) back in 2018. If signed at 20 the club would almost certainly have to pay the biggest ever fee for a 20-year-old, something that is currently held by the €105m (£91.6m) signing of Ousmane Dembele by Barcelona in 2017.
If they do move for Bellingham they will break Premier League records that every other big six club bar the Reds has done already.
The most expensive 19-year-old in Premier League history stands as Anthony Martial, signed by Manchester United from Monaco for £36m during the 2015/16 season. The most expensive 20-year-old remains American Christian Pulisic, signed by Chelsea from Bellingham's current club Borussia Dortmund in 2019 for £58m. Bellingham would likely be triple what Martial was signed for a double what was paid for Pulisic in order for Liverpool to get a deal done, something that would add them to a list that they are currently absent from.
All the other members of the big six have broken transfer records for age at some point in the Premier League era. Arsenal signed Theo Walcott (16) and now Reds midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (17). Chelsea did it four times with Pulisic, Romelu Lukaku (28), Andriy Shevchenko (29) and Olivier Giroud (31), while Manchester United achieved the feat six times with Martial, Jadon Sancho (21), Paul Pogba (23), Lukaku (24), Harry Maguire (26) and Edwin van der Sar (34).
Manchester City's acquisitions of Jack Grealish (25), Riyad Mahrez (27) and Claudio Bravo (33) see them on the list, while Tottenham Hotspur feature through Tanguy Ndombele (22) and Fernando Llorente (32). Wolverhampton Wanderers' signing of 18-year-old Fabio Silva for £35m in 2020 from Porto sees them on the list. Newcastle United also appear on the list with their January capture of 30-year-old Chris Wood from Burnley for £25m.
Liverpool will definitely have to take their place on the Premier League list to get a deal done, and they may even have to occupy a spot on the global list at the expense of Mbappe should the market prove to be buoyant enough to lead to something of an arms race for the services of the English teenager. Either way, it won't be cheap.
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