Now that the transfer window has officially closed, or slammed shut as we're all obliged to say, Liverpool fans can focus on the actual matches, well almost. Until Andoni Iraola's team take on Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Friday night, there is still plenty of time to mull over and debate the Reds' window.
Liverpool's summer 2026 signings
- Bradley Barcola: £123 million from Paris Saint-Germain.
- Jérémy Jacquet: £60 million from Stade Rennais.
- Víctor Muñoz: £34.5 million from Osasuna.
- Lucca Brughmans: £30 million from Genk.
- Ronald Araújo: Loan from FC Barcelona.
- Ifeanyi Ndukwe: £2.6 million from Austria Wien.
Despite spending close to £250 million on five new recruits, plus Ronald Araújo on loan, there are still enormous holes in Liverpool's team. Weaknesses at full-back and in midfield have been massively exposed by both Nottingham Forest and Newcastle, and were not fixed in the transfer market.
This has led to many Kopites being disgruntled with outgoing sporting director Richard Hughes, who is heading to Saudi Arabia to join Al-Hilal, as well as the recruitment staff in general. Thus, fans will be shocked to learn where Liverpool rank in terms of net spend this summer among Premier League clubs.
Premier League clubs' net spend summer 2026
Clubs | Expenditure | Sales | Net spend |
|---|---|---|---|
Liverpool | £250m | £31m | £219m |
Ipswich Town | £211m | £21m | £190m |
Tottenham Hotspur | £311.5m | £148.5m | £163m |
Manchester City | £452m | £298m | £163m |
Hull City | £151m | £17.4m | £133.6m |
Coventry City | £128.3m | £4.4m | 123.9m |
Manchester United | £149m | £48m | £101m |
Brentford | £107m | £11m | £96m |
Arsenal | £196m | £112.5m | £83m |
Fulham | £88m | £18m | £70m |
Bournemouth | £70m | £11.5m | £58.5m |
Leeds United | £86m | £30m | £56m |
Sunderland | £66m | £28m | £38m |
Newcastle United | £269m | £239m | £30m |
Brighton | £155m | £165m | £10m profit |
Nottingham Forest | £119m | £138m | £19m profit |
Everton | £88m | £110m | £22m profit |
Crystal Palace | £73m | £112m | £39m profit |
Aston Villa | £258m | £310m | £52m profit |
Chelsea | £340m | £400m | £60m profit |
Note: Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt; some fees are subject to change following add-ons.
As the numbers document, Liverpool actually have the highest net spend of any Premier League club this summer. Tottenham, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Ipswich, Aston Villa and Chelsea are the only clubs to have splurged more than £200m on new recruits, alongside Liverpool.
However, all of those, with the exception of newly-promoted Ipswich, have balanced the books with mass sales as well. In fact, Liverpool's £31m worth of sales is above only Sunderland, Leeds, Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham, Ipswich and Coventry.
So, why did this summer feel so underwhelming? Well, Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konaté all departed on free transfers, a trio of made over 1,000 appearances for the club, all of whom feel like massive loses. They of course do not help the ins and outs balance sheet, albeit that will be an enormous amount of money off the wage bill.
In terms of sales, Curtis Jones is really the only one of note, joining Serie A champions Internazionale for a fee that will rise to £30 million. Stefan Bajčetić meantime returned to Celta Vigo for just £1 million. Had they not pulled the plug on Cody Gakpo's move to Manchester City, that would have been another £85 million, albeit the Reds simply could not afford to sell him at this time.
On the flip side, there are reasons why all of Liverpool's signings do not feel quite as exciting as perhaps they should. Jérémy Jacquet's transfer was announced in January, while Víctor Muñoz's move from Osasuna was confirmed mid-World Cup, meaning the attention of most was elsewhere.
Meantime, fans remain concerned why Barcelona supporters were so delighted to see Ronald Araújo depart, after he's endured a rough couple of seasons in Catalonia. Teenaged defender Ifeanyi Ndukwe was excellent in pre-season, but is ineligible to play for the first time yet due to work permit issues. The deadline day arrival was Lucca Brughmans, but it is hard to get too excited about a teenaged back-up goalkeeper who will remain at his current club for the rest of the season.
We have of course failed to mention Bradley Barcola yet. The Frenchman will be an absolute game-changer, one of the best attackers in the Premier League from day one. However, the fact the deal proved to be such a saga, seemingly in the pipeline for two months before he arrived on Monday, very much took some of the gloss off. So, with the squad as is, are Iraola's team capable of challenging for trophies? Well, that remains to be seen.
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