LIVERPOOL
Title Odds 4/1
In Fabinho (Monaco, £43m) Naby Keita (RB Leipzig, £54m), Xherdan Shaqiri (Stoke, £13m), Alisson Becker (Roma, £65m), Danny Ings (Southampton, loan)
Out Yan Dhanda (Swansea, free), Emre Can (Juventus, free), Jon Flanagan (Rangers, free), Paulo Alves (Wolves, free), Jordan Williams (Rochdale, free), Danny Ward (Leicester, £12.5m), Ovie Ejaria (Rangers, loan), Adam Bogdan (Hibernian, loan), Harry Wilson (Derby, loan), Ryan Kent (Rangers, loan), Taiwo Awoniyi (Gent, loan), Allan (Eintracht Frankfurt, loan), Shamal George (Tranmere, loan), Ben Woodburn (Sheffield United, loan), Danny Ings (Southampton, loan) Net spend £162.5m What’s new? A world-class goalkeeper after years of thrifty, selfdeluding stubbornness, a dynamic box-to-box midfielder, a reliably dominant ball-winner and a mercurially creative attacker. Essentially serious upgrades in options and variety for a team that could best Manchester City on their day but were not as consistent. Most exciting signing Alisson has the feet of a midfield playmaker plus strong wrists, sound judgment and agility. He plays with an infectious self-assurance alien to concrete-booted Simon Mignolet and lapse-prone, pan-handed Loris Karius, who always seemed as astonished that Klopp trusted them as everyone else. How will they play? Klopp will stick with 4-3-3, employing the quick passing and fluid movement of the front six and the roadrunner full-backs in much the same way, but now with the greater mobility of Naby
Keita and
Fabinho in the mix. Who has it all to prove? Xherdan Shaqiri may never convince the Neville brothers who rate dogged diligence above sporadic, swaggering splendour, but he has the skill and pluck to confound them and it would be amusing to watch his delight in their discomfort if he did so by scoring at Old Trafford. He certainly has the ability to prise open those shut-tight defences which occasionally thwarted Liverpool in games they should have won last season. Who will be player of the year? Should this be the title-winning campaign their development and expenditure demand, they will need Mo Salah to be as prolific as last season and Alisson to prove the difference. But Roberto Firmino is the tie that binds it all together and if he maintains his fluency and incisiveness throughout he will be recognised as the best in the league and not just at his club. Manager’s survival rating Irreplaceable. Klopp’s intelligence and charisma are exactly what Liverpool require because they see themselves as a cause as much as a club and he speaks to their sense of exceptionalism. Faith in him in the stands and boardroom is absolute: the hope must simply be that he does not burn himself, or his players out, through his sheer intensity. 9/10 If they were a World Cup side they would be … Argentina. Triumphant in the Seventies and Eighties and, though blessed by radiant talent, still striving for the winning blend.