Rated and slated: the pros and cons of Liverpool’s summer business

Mo Salah, Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal

There were four new arrivals for Liverpool – plus one for next season in Naby Keita – and four first-team players were sold. Ten left on loan, six youth players were released... and Alex Manninger retired. Admit it, though: you’d forgotten he even existed.

Ahead of the summer, Jurgen Klopp had identified four players he wanted to improve key areas of his team: Virgil van Dijk at centre-back, Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon at left-back, Naby Keita in central midfield, and Mohamed Salah as a wide forward.

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Matt Ladson is the co-founder and editor of This Is Anfield, the independent Liverpool news and comment website, and covers all areas of the Reds for FourFourTwo – including transfer analysis, interviews, title wins and European trophies. As well as writing about Liverpool for FourFourTwo he also contributes to other titles including Yahoo and Bleacher Report. He is a lifelong fan of the Reds.