With the 2020/21 Premier League campaign drawing to a close this month, Liverpool are already being linked with a number of high-profile players this summer, but manager Jurgen Klopp predicts a fairly quiet window for the Reds.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool 's re-arranged game against Manchester United on Thursday evening, Klopp suggested that players like Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Sancho may have to wait to secure big-money moves, also revealing that the club's transfer budget is 'not a lot'.
"Do I know what we have to work with? Yes, not a lot, anyway," Klopp said.
"It depends to the business, what happens, if someone wants to leave or if players want to go, if we sell, so we can never really plan early.
"But not playing in the Champions League doesn’t help, but it is not our biggest problem because the market will be really strange.
"I hear a lot about big-money moves, I don't know if Kylian Mbappe is going or not, whether Haaland or Sancho will, these kinds of players.
"I don’t see that happening this summer because the football world is still not in the same place it was before.
"Getting the injured players back makes us already better.
"These are our first transfers."
With this in mind, which players could Liverpool sign this summer? Which players could depart?
And, how can we expect Liverpool's starting XI to look when the 2021 transfer window closes?
We used popular football management simulation game Football Manager 2021 to have a bit of fun, and find out how Liverpool's squad could look after the 2021/22 summer transfer window.
Liverpool's 2021/22 team imagined after summer transfer window
To find out what Liverpool's team could look like at the beginning of the 2021/22 season, we used the popular football management simulation game Football Manager to try and predict the future.
We simulated the entire 2020/21 season on the game, and then simulated further into September 2021, to see how Liverpool's first XI looked after the 2021 summer transfer window.
We edited Liverpool's finances and gave them a total transfer budget of around £60 million, which is modest for a club like Liverpool.
Here's what happened!
Transfers in: £104 million
Martin Odegaard (Real Madrid) - £58 million
Milan Skriniar (Inter) - £46 million
Liverpool brought in just two players in this FM21 simulation, but they were players of real quality.
Real Madrid midfielder Martin Odegaard, currently on loan at fellow Premier League side Arsenal, joined the Reds for £58 million.
And the Reds also strengthened their defence with the signing of Inter central defender Martin Skriniar, who cost £46 million from Serie A champions Inter.
Let's move on to the outgoings.
Transfers out: £31.5 million
Takumi Minamino (Borussia Dortmund) - £23 million
Divock Origi (Montpellier) - £7.5 million
Adam Lewis (Charlton) - £185,000
Gini Wijnaldum (Paris Saint-Germain) - Free
Harry Wilson (Valencia) - Loan
Adrian (New England) - Loan
Ben Davies (Norwich) - Loan
Liverpool managed to recoup just under £32 million from player sales in this FM21 simulation, with Takumi Minamino, Divock Origi, Adam Lewis, Gini Wijnaldum, Harry Wilson, Adrian and Ben Davies among the players to leave Anfield.
In addition, Oban Kabak's loan wasn't made permanent, which opened up a spot for Skriniar.
So, with all these transfers completed, what could the first Liverpool lineup of the 2021/22 season look like?
The first Liverpool XI at the beginning of the 2021/22 season predicted
With the 2021 transfer window over, this is how Liverpool's first XI looked, with the two signings going straight into the starting lineup.
Liverpool's opening line-up in the first game of the 2021/22 season was as follows: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Skriniar, Van Dijk, Robertson; Odegaard, Fabinho, Henderson; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Liverpool 2-0 Crystal Palace
Liverpool's first game of the 2021/22 campaign was against Crystal Palace at Anfield, with both Odegaard and Skriniar starting for Jurgen Klopp.
Salah scored twice in the 2-0 win, with both Odegaard and Skriniar playing well on their debuts.
Would you be happy with these Liverpool transfers this summer?
*Football Manager (FM) is the world’s leading football management simulation title. The latest edition of the game, FM21, is out now on PC, Mac, Mobile, Touch and Xbox.
The Football Manager database currently contains data on more than 800,000 individuals and 45,000 active clubs, with data sourced from their international on the ground scouting network which numbers roughly 1,000 people, among their ranks are some who are involved in football in professional capacities, including scouts and coaches.*
