Liverpool sit sixth in February, the reigning champions outside Champions League places, and their only move this window is the £60m signing of Jeremy Jacquet — a centre-back who will not arrive until the summer. That trade signals the club prioritising a long-term rebuild and puts pressure on head coach Arne Slot to find short-term solutions from within while injuries bite.
Liverpool remain in two cup competitions, but Slot faces immediate defensive problems. At right-back, Conor Bradley is out for the season and Jeremie Frimpong has had ongoing fitness issues, forcing Dominik Szoboszlai — the club’s player of the season — to deputise out of position. Late interest in Lutsharel Geertruida came to nothing.
Central defence is similarly stretched. Giovanni Leoni is a long-term absentee, with Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo filling in at the back. Ibrahima Konaté cut short compassionate leave to return against Newcastle. Missing out on Marc Guehi — a deal that collapsed on Deadline Day last summer and has since been repeated with Guehi joining Manchester City — remains a particular frustration for supporters, reopening a summer wound.
City’s additions of Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, both proven in the Premier League, underline the difference between immediate reinforcement and Liverpool’s transitional recruitment. Last season’s title, while intended as the start of a new era under Slot, increasingly looks like the close of another. Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Alisson have all signed new deals but are 33, prompting a planned rebuild.
The summer signings showed the club’s template: a mix of potential and experience. Alexander Isak has looked like an indulgence to some, but Hugo Ekitike (23) and Florian Wirtz (22) are clear long-term prospects, and Milos Kerkez arrived as the successor to Andy Robertson. That pattern echoes the Michael Edwards era: targeting players in or approaching their peak who had already enjoyed significant careers before arriving at Anfield.
Ian Graham, Liverpool’s former director of research, emphasised the timing of signings: “The successful players, they were 23, 24, one or two 25-year-olds. All of the big successes were in that age range. I think it was Julian Ward who came up with the phrase that they needed to have had a career before having their Liverpool career.” The lesson: title-winning squads usually contain a nucleus of peak-age players; too many youngsters and veterans can upset the consistency required at the top level.
Jacquet fits the long-term profile: highly rated, thriving in a physical Ligue 1. Yet he arrives with only 31 top-flight starts, which brings risk — as does any signings’ trajectory being affected by form, fitness or a spell out through injury, as Leoni’s situation reminds us. Integrating new, experienced starters is tough; Graham notes that, even during Liverpool’s successful recruitment window between 2016 and 2019, the club generally added only about three starters per year, fewer than rivals, and not every signing became a regular.
That difficulty helps explain why Liverpool’s campaign has been more uneven than expected. Overhauls take time. The growing understanding between Ekitike and Wirtz is encouraging, but not an instant fix. Slot has critics, which is understandable given results, yet the upheaval he has inherited would likely have challenged many managers, including Jurgen Klopp had he been in charge through a similar transition.
Voices in the media reflected the impatience. Paul Merson told Sky Sports News: “I’m majorly shocked. I don’t know why, for the life of me, he’s staying in France until the start of next season. With that kind of money, you want him now. They need a centre-half now to get top four or top five.”
Slot himself has argued the club must be smart in the market: “We are trying to strengthen the squad, not trying to weaken it,” he said on the eve of Deadline Day. Despite that, the window closed without reinforcements to handle the remainder of this season’s defensive crisis.
For Liverpool, the stakes are high. Slot’s future will partly depend on how the team handles the coming months: they could still win the Champions League or fail to qualify for it next season. The club has chosen a long-term route with Jacquet and other young signings; whether that patience pays off will be decided on the pitch in the short term and, perhaps, in summers to come.