It's hard to know how it'll pan out as the new manager will need some time to assess the squad before making too many big calls.
Summer 2025 may a busier transfer window turnover-wise than summer 2024.
I'd expect this lot to go:
Adrian, Matip, Thiago, Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams, Musialowski
Question marks (1-2 year timeframe)
- Tsimikas (contracted to 2027) might be one where it suits all parties for him to move on. Get a decent fee and recruit a younger prospect who can learn the ropes & replace Robbo in around 2 years time.
- Gravenberch will be interesting to watch. A Dutch coach might really help him push on, but if he doesn't step up then he may be gone by summer 2025.
- Endo has done well and looks a good value buy, but he's the first XI player that jumps out to me as one where an upgrade is possible in the medium term.
You could make a reasonable case for selling or keeping literally any of the front 5.
Diaz & Salah - High re-sale value. Can fund a re-jig of the forward line
Nunez & Gapko - both have promise but have underperformed expectation to varying degrees
Jota - excellent, but hasn't the availability levels you'd want...and this is unlikely to improve much at his age
Slot likes wide attackers who can really attack their opposite numbers one-on-one, so IMHO he's more likely to build the attack around Diaz than to sell him on.
Any change up top might be influenced more by the offers that come in than any pro-active plans to move any on this summer. If a semi-silly offer comes in for Mo then it might make sense to accept, but IMHO rumours of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. After a decent rest this summer I fully expect him to score a lot of goals next season -
no matter which club he's at.
What's clear is that it's quite a young squad. If Thiago/Matip/Adrian all move on this summer then it would leave a good
age profile
- Only 4 outfield players in their
30s - VVD (32), Salah (31), Endo (31) & Robertson (30)
- Nobody in the
28-29 years of age category
- The bulk of the first teamers in the
23-27 yr bracket
- A hell of a lot of promising players in the
19-21 bracket (Bajcetic, Clark, Bradley, Quansah, Elliott, Gravenberch) who all have a decent level of PL experience
- A decent pipeline of
kids in the age bracket below that (e.g. Danns, Koumas, Doak, Nyoni)
The guys in their 30s can be transitioned out on a 1-3 year timeframe and the guys in the 23-27 age bracket will transition in become the more experienced players. Many of these have already racked up a big amount of experiences, at a good level, for their age.
Like Klopp, Slot seems very willing to give young players a decent chance rather than packing the edges of the squad with older players who are a clear level below the first XI.
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with Clayton.
