£35m Klopp signing is Liverpool’s biggest liability since Nunez

It wouldn’t quite be true to say that Liverpool’s season hinges on their success in the Champions League, but being knocked out by Galatasaray next week would certainly increase the mounting pressure on Arne Slot’s back.

There isn’t much confidence in the Reds’ ability to go all the way in Europe’s premium continent-wide competition, even with Liverpool’s rich history and the unpredictability that knockout football brings.

Moreover, Liverpool travel to the Etihad Stadium to take on Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals after the March international break, and that will be a tough challenge too.

While Slot has got a task on his hands for the business months of the campaign, FSG are inevitably looking toward the summer, with Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes hoping to bring new superstars in but also get rid of some of the deadwood.

Who Liverpool need to sell this summer

Liverpool need to reset this summer. Numerous players haven’t cut the mustard in Slot’s team this season, with peripheral players like Federico Chiesa at risk of leaving.

What that would mean for Mohamed Salah, who has been abject on the right wing this season, remains to be seen, especially when considering the need for a left-sided winger.

However, the future of Alexis Mac Allister is likely to be a bigger talking point. Almost three years into his Liverpool career, the most recent third has been so far removed from the world-class level of seasons one and two that it beggars belief.

The 27-year-old was widely lauded as a “superstar” by those such as pundit Joe Cole for his role as Slot’s trusted midfield lieutenant, but Mac Allister has been among the most disappointing parts of the stuttering Red machine this term, declining across physical, technical and creative metrics.

Whether the Argentina international will be a Liverpool player next season remains to be seen, but he’s out of contract in 2027 and has already stated that he’s not in a rush to extend his time on Merseyside.

Only months ago, losing Mac Allister in the physical prime of his career would have been inconceivable, but much has changed since Liverpool lifted the Premier League title.

Liverpool know when to cut big names – take Darwin Nunez, who left last summer to make way for Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike – with another of Slot’s mainstays at risk of moving on in a few months.

Liverpool must get rid of the new Darwin Nunez

In 2022, Nunez joined Liverpool from Benfica for an initial £64m fee, arriving under Jurgen Klopp’s wing with a weight of expectation, tipped to succeed Roberto Firmino in the long run.

It didn’t work out, and now he plys his trade in Saudi Arabia. Nunez missed too many chances and often looked at odds in Klopp and then Slot’s attacking structure. £35m Ibrahima Konate is unlikely to share a similar fate, but the centre-half would leave Liverpool this summer with many disgruntled at his performances in Slot’s system.

Nunez and Konate are hardly similar players, but Konate is one of the most talented members of the Liverpool first team, as the Uruguayan striker was, and his inability to eradicate the flaws in his game could spell the end of his Liverpool career.

The France centre-back is out of contract at the end of the season, and while FSG have pushed for an extension, they have found no success, with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich among the interested parties.

Liverpool need centre-backs, but even so, letting the 26-year-old leave might not be the worst thing in the world. After all, he’s been one of the biggest underperformers at Anfield this season, making any number of mistakes throughout the campaign. In this, he has been “Liverpool’s most alarming fault line”, according to Reds writer Eddie Gibbs.

A recent purple patch has helped steady the ship, but old habits die hard and Konate reverted to his old error-riddled ways during the latest Champions League defeat at Galatasaray.

With Giovanni Leoni pushing to return from an ACL injury at the start of the new season and Liverpool having agreed a £60m deal with Rennes for prodigious centre-back talent Jeremy Jacquet, who arrives this summer, the prospect of Konate leaving (instead of signing a new bumper contract) doesn’t seem so detrimental.

Konate’s mistake-filled performances equate to Nunez’s profligacy in the final third. They are not so different, these two. Konate has given a lot to Liverpool, but it might be time to wipe the slate clean and usher in the new crop.