It feels like a period of change at Anfield, with club legends Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson departing after years of incredible service.
But as emotions begin to subside, attention will quickly turn to finding replacements for those players, and there is little doubt that Arne Slot and his staff will already be working on that.
One player who could benefit from Salah's departure, in perticular, is youngseter Rio Ngumoha.
Salah's departure opens the door
Salah's departure is a tough one to take for Liverpool fans, but football does not stand still.
A new winger is likely to be signed, but Salah's departure does open the door for Ngumoha, who would be smart to make himself available on both sides.
The 17-year-old talent typically plays on the left side, but he is right footed and certainly capable of playing on the right. Liverpool also have Federico Chiesa on the right, although his future is uncertain, and Cody Gakpo will be the go-to on the left.
Ngumoha made 31 appearances across all competitions this season, so it's clear Arne Slot thinks a lot of him. Salah's departure gives the youngster a chance to make the right wing spot his own this summer with an impressive pre-season.
It's clear the winger has already worked towards achieving that, too, with Slot having said this season: "Yeah, but not only the long future, also the near future. I think I’ve said a few weeks, maybe months ago, one or two months ago, that his playing time would increase because he got stronger and stronger, showed more and more when he came in, but also in training sessions, that it wasn’t only a nice trick, but there was more and more end product to what he did,"
Pre-season will be particularly important because it's likely to take some time before Liverpool get a new winger in, opening the door for Ngumoha to stake his claim to Slot. It will mean a change of position of sorts, but Liverpool could do with someone who offers something a little different.
That different would be a winger who can beat their man down the sideline and reach the byline, rather than cutting inside, and Ngumoha may be able to offer that on the right side, given he is right-footed.
Is it too soon? It may be difficult at 17 years of age, but Ngumoha may never get a better chance to stake his claim than this summer, given the calibre of winger Liverpool are likely to look for to replace Salah, and at worst, the claim should be good enough to get the youngster more game time and more trust.
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