Credit can’t be shared equally within the Liverpool squad following their Premier League title triumph.
Mohamed Salah has been the club’s talisman across the season and has been supported by a talented band of brothers, but there are those, in all honesty, who have made a relatively small impact on Liverpool’s success during Arne Slot’s debut campaign.
Whether through injuries or lack of opportunity, some of the club’s peripheral figures have struggled to impress and are at risk of being dumped as the Reds prepare to bolster their ranks this summer.
With that in mind, here are seven Liverpool players who could be sold this summer.
Caoimhin Kelleher has been called upon more than expected this season. The Ireland international has been readily deployed in place of the injury-prone Alisson and has managed 20 appearances in all competitions – including an outing in the Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United.
Kelleher has generally deputised in typically impressive fashion – although few can replace Alisson’s brilliance – but the 26-year-old has been tipped for an Anfield exit in recent transfer windows having grown frequently frustrated with a lack of minutes.
Giorgi Mamardashvili, who Liverpool signed and then loaned back to Valencia last summer, will team up with the Reds at the end of the current campaign and the Georgia international will push Kelleher further down the pecking order. The academy graduate could finally earn first-choice status somewhere else this summer.
As much as Liverpool would love to keep Trent Alexander-Arnold at the club for the remainder of his career, the Scouser appears destined to join Real Madrid on a free transfer.
Slot will find it extremely challenging to replace the right-back’s creativity and distribution, with the defensive unit perhaps needing rebalancing after his increasingly inevitable departure. Young Conor Bradley is already on standby to fill his shoes or Liverpool could delve into the market for reinforcements.
Unfortunately, the Reds will have to move on from their No 66 in the near future.
Left-back has been the only area of Liverpool’s squad that has underperformed this term. Andy Robertson’s decline has been alarming and Slot has seldom trusted Kostas Tsimikas to take his place in the starting lineup. The latter may be sacrificed for new blood before next season begins.
The Greece international has been at Liverpool for five years and has been a competent deputy on the rare occasions Robertson has been missing. But the 28-year-old is not an entirely trustworthy option and his defensive deficiencies have been exposed repeatedly.
Liverpool will surely look to recoup some of the £11.75m they spent on Tsimikas in 2020 and upgrade the left-back department this summer.
Wataru Endo earned cult hero status at Anfield during Jurgen Klopp’s final season at the helm, performing a surprisingly prominent role at the base of Liverpool’s midfield. However, the Japan international has been almost entirely confined to the function of substitute enforcer under Slot.
Endo has been utilised in the cup competitions and the closing stages of matches in which Liverpool need to protect a narrow lead, with Ryan Gravenberch’s remarkable transformation sidelining the former Stuttgart man.
Liverpool are expected to enter the market for an orthodox defensive midfielder this summer and that could spell the end for 32-year-old Endo.
The trust Klopp regularly placed in Elliott has not been shared by Slot. The Dutch coach has sparingly used the attacking midfielder despite an impressive pre-season, with the 22-year-old having only just surpassed 20 outings in all competitions this term.
There can be no denying Elliott’s natural ability but whether he boasts the star quality Slot desires from his No 10 is debatable. While a handy substitute and an occasional wizard, the Englishman is yet to prove his reliability or consistency over extended periods.
It would be risky of the Reds to allow the young homegrown talent to depart, but Elliott is unlikely to accept a bit-part role for too much longer.
Federico Chiesa’s debut season with Liverpool has been far from smooth sailing. Injuries derailed the first half of his campaign and opportunities have been fleeting in the months since. The summer signing has shown glimpses of his flair and technical quality, but Slot is yet to see enough from the Italian winger.
It would be harsh to judge Chiesa after one injury-hit campaign and Liverpool would arguably be naive to allow him to leave this summer. There is still an extremely talented player somewhere within the 27-year-old and the Reds hardly spent much to bring him to Merseyside.
But Chiesa’s presence does take up another place in Slot’s squad that could perhaps be better used by a younger player in stronger form.
It’s no longer too early to claim that Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez experiment has failed. A rare blunder from the club’s recruitment team, the Uruguayan has proven a divisive figure ever since arriving for big money from Benfica, with brief sightings of his chaotic genius having offered the Anfield faithful shoots of hope.
But the sand is swiftly slipping through the hourglass and Nunez is no closer to being the dynamic and clinical No 9 Liverpool expected him to become. Patience has run out and an exit looks almost certain this summer.
Liverpool arguably need an all-conquering, orthodox centre-forward to reach the next level and Nunez isn’t that. While they still can, the Reds must cash in on his waning potential and recuperate some of the funds they splashed on the 25-year-old.
