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Liverpool are expected to offer lavish new contracts immediately after their victory against Real Madrid. The beneficiaries? The Irish club scouts, of course.
Caoimhin Kelleher’s penalty save from Kylian Mbappe was one of many highlights of an evening that confirmed Liverpool’s credentials as serious contenders for top honours, and also served as the ultimate validation of the way the club’s football operations are managed from top to bottom.
Republic of Ireland number 1 Kelleher and right-back Conor Bradley, the young Northern Irishman who helped tame Mbappe, are academy graduates who cost nothing in transfer fees. Today they play like superstars in the making, on a fraction of the wages of those in the opposition who have sometimes reacted to the idea of going backwards like strutting prima donnas. The day Liverpool Football Club fails to recognize that its foundations are built on sound investments in talent development alongside expensive, off-the-shelf end products will be the day the Shankly Gates should be padlocked forever.
What Liverpool now have is the exciting balance every manager dreams of; local gems, senior professionals and big earners like Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah who lead by example, and young and hungry recruits like Ryan Gravenberchm, who was described by a Spanish Arne Slot journalist as “the next Toni Kroos. ‘.
“He’s not because he’s Dutch, not German,” Slot responded jokingly.
There is still a lot of work to be done and trophies to be won to preserve the idea that Slot’s appointment is one of Anfield’s great masterstrokes, or even last summer’s transfer policy consisting to add only Federico Chiesa, the least spotted, a judicious decision.
What is beyond doubt is that despite all the criticism about underfunding, a Liverpool team is already built capable of winning domestic and European titles. Given how Liverpool have progressed since their last meeting with Real Madrid – including the loss of one of their greatest managers of all time – the applause should be loud right now.
When Liverpool lost in Real Madrid’s previous visit in March 2023, that harrowing experience was the catalyst for a rebuild. Popular opinion was that the club needed to incur £110m in transfer fees and a further £100m in wages over five years to sign Jude Bellingham.
Shortly after, Jurgen Klopp announced another capitulation. Rather than pursuing one midfielder, the club would use the funds to buy three.
Liverpool were unable to buy Bellingham. But to quote Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in the film silver ballthey could “create it as a whole.”
There was initially resentment over the decision, but the combined fee for Alexis Mac Allister, Gravenberch and Dominic Szoboszlai – the three who arrived in place of Bellingham – amounted to £130million. At a conservative estimate, their current salary if they stay on Merseyside for five years will amount to an extra £78m. Three players for the price of one, with probably some spare change. It was never about refusing to spend big, but rather spending smartly.
Mac Allister and Gravenberch led the midfield alongside another local diamond, Curtis Jones, on Wednesday night.
The lesson is obvious. When done right, allocating resources and making decisions based on cold analysis rather than raw emotions can work wonders. What may seem obvious here, at present, could be at best a miscalculation in 18 months, and at worst a financial catastrophe. No one would have believed it in 2023, but going to the Bellingham Bernabeu was not only the best thing that could happen to him and Real Madrid. If last night is anything to go by, it was also the best result for Liverpool given where they are today.
The most important lesson that many seem to ignore is this: as things stand, Liverpool have demonstrated that being top of the Premier League and Champions League does not necessarily mean being top of the spending league.
