Liverpool's staggering £103m title-winning January transfer window predicted - including Rangers target
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The January transfer window is just around the corner, and Premier League clubs will already be shortlisting potential new signings as they look to kick on in the second half of the season.
Liverpool had a deathly quiet summer transfer window, spending just £10m to bring in Federico Chiesa from Juventus. So far, they've not appeared to have suffered from their lack of activity in the market, emerging as strong contenders to prise the Premier League trophy from the ever-weakening grasp of Manchester City.
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Hide AdThey could well be on the hunt for a signing or two after Christmas, with a long-term successor to Andrew Robertson potentially on their radar, and the uncertain future of star full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold also weighing heavy on their minds.
Ahead of the new year, we fired up our dear old friend Football Manager - the very game that gave us this wild Mohamed Salah replacement prediction - and simulated the upcoming winter window. Here are the players Liverpool signed to seal the crown of 2024/25 Premier League champions:
Transfers in - £103m spent
The Reds spent no time twiddling their thumbs, kicking off on January 1st by swooping for Brest centre-back Lillian Brassier - not to be confused with the Lillian Brasserie, a rather sophisticated looking restaurant in Melbourne, Australia - who provided some much needed depth at centre-back amid Ibrahima Konate's injury woes.
He only cost £4.4m, which was a bit of a bargain. Intriguingly, he cut a loan spell with Marseille short to join Liverpool, despite the Ligue 1 side having an option to buy.
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Hide AdWith Brassier in the bag, Liverpool went all the way until deadline day before sealing four signings - it really was box office stuff. Despite being linked with a move to Rangers last summer, it was the Reds who won the race to sign Benfica winger Tiago Gouveia, paying £50m to sign the 23-year-old Portuguese star in what appeared to be a bit of a gamble.
With the deadline day clock ticking perilously closer to midnight, transfer guru Fabio Romano rattled out his 287th 'Here we go' of the day, revealing Liverpool had spent another £44m to bring in versatile RB Leipzig defender Lukas Klostermann. Capable of playing either in the heart of defence or at right full-back, he became a vital utility man to cover for Slot’s first choice options.
Sending their fax machine into overdrive, Liverpool had one more deal to get over the line. It was, quite bizarrely, another centre-back. While the Reds' motives for stockpiling central defenders is unclear, the arrival of Nicolas Romero from Argentine side Atletico Tucuman did represent somewhat of a bargain at just over £5m. One for the future, the 21-year-old was quickly dispatched out on loan to Sheffield United.
What happened next?
With their new signings on board, Liverpool were ready to push on ahead of the season's finale in May. While the Reds lost the EFL Cup final to Arsenal (a fourth trophy to go along with those Community Shields Mikel Arteta has been banging on about) and crashed out in the Champions League quarter-finals, they did manage to secure an impressive double - winning both the Premier League and the FA Cup.
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Hide AdThe rather pricey Gouveia made a fair few cameo appearances, scoring a respectable four goals and making two assists before the end of the season. Klostermann was used far more frequently, earning plenty of starts to cover for various injuries that besieged Liverpool in March. Brassier, meanwhile, barely featured.
As for Romero, he had a lovely old time of it in the Championship with Sheffield United, playing almost every game as Chris Wilder's Blades bulldozed their way back into the Premier League.
And there we have it - this is who Football Manager predicts Liverpool will sign in the January transfer window. Will Slot decide to blow north of £100m on this quartet of relatively unknown players? Unlikely. That Premier League title winning prediction is looking pretty solid though.
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