Alexander Isak: How can Liverpool afford Newcastle striker?

As shown in the graph above, in the three seasons prior to 2024-25 Liverpool made net transfer spends of -£17.8m, £92.5m and £49.8m.

For context, Manchester United have had a net spend of £119m, £133m and £190m over their past three campaigns.

“Liverpool have been outside the top-10 spenders on player signings since 2019, but their model is a classic case of being smarter rather than bigger,” said Maguire.

“Liverpool’s model has been to ignore the noise and only buy a player if they truly improve the squad. It’s a Moneyball,, external more analytical approach.

“Chief executive Michael Edwards does a brilliant job and he never buys players because of external pressure. He doesn’t get jittery when fans call for more signings.

“Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and potentially Isak are big signings, but they all improve the Liverpool squad, and the Reds do have an awful lot of PSR headroom.”

Last month, former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp described the £116m potential fee for Wirtz as “insane”.

Klopp, who won the Champions League and Premier League during a nine-year spell at Anfield before he left in the summer of 2024, felt transfer fees were rising at a rapid rate.

“I know I once said I’m out if we pay 100m euros for a player, but the world keeps changing – that’s how the market is,” he said.

Before Wirtz’s arrival, Nunez had been the club’s record signing, joining from Benfica in June 2022 in a deal that could be worth up to £85m.

But Klopp’s big signings were largely spread out across different transfer windows during his time at the club.

The Reds signed defender Virgil van Dijk for £75m from Southampton in January 2018, goalkeeper Alisson from Roma for £66.8m in July 2018 and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai for £60m from RB Leipzig in July 2023.