Liverpool won't stop after Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez deals as FSG deliver for Arne Slot

If there was a maxim that said there were no good football club owners but some are just better than others, it would probably not be too far wrong. Of course, there have been plenty of exceptions down the years - I’m thinking of Jack Walker at Blackburn Rovers, for example - and there are still a few.

But let’s face it, in these days of de facto state ownership, American venture capitalists and Saudi Arabian investment funds, Premier League owners, in particular, are not a bunch likely to generate unbridled affection. I honestly don’t know how much love Liverpool fans have for Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and it is fair to say the Boston-based business group has made a few mis-steps in its 15 years of involvement at Anfield.

There were protests that led to a ticket-price freeze earlier this season and back in 2016, FSG had to apologise for trying to introduce a £77 top-priced general admission ticket. But what I do know is that FSG seem to be making a decent fist of ensuring Liverpool’s dominance of the 2024-25 season extends into a more sustained period of supremacy.

During the weekly chats with Virgil van Dijk during the season, the Liverpool captain never gave much away about, well, anything. But, repeatedly, he mentioned his trust in the owners to act decisively in the summer transfer window, regardless of Liverpool’s success in the Premier League.

And it is clear that there were not only financial considerations when it came to the renegotiation of Van Dijk’s contract, not to mention Mohamed Salah’s. The skipper wanted to know he would be leading a squad that was improving.

And FSG and Liverpool are delivering. Jeremie Frimpong is done and Milos Kerkez looks like a certainty. There are two very exciting attacking full-backs in one swoop. And then there is the record-breaking move for Florian Wirtz.

I will not pretend to have seen enough of Wirtz to make a definitive assessment of his worth. But I know plenty of people who have.

And they tell me the 22-year-old has everything it takes to be a truly elite player, in the No.10 position or in any other creative, attacking position. Apparently, his work-rate and appetite for a duel is also beyond question.

When it happens - which it will - it will be a statement signing. Discussing the finer details of his outstanding first season at the club, Arne Slot was interesting when speaking about areas in which he felt the squad could be improved.

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

On a specific point, he believed the squad could benefit from more pace and Frimpong and Kerkez will certainly bring that. On a general point, it is clear he regretted not feeling sufficiently empowered to rotate more.

Tiredness, he suggested, was one of the factors behind the Champions League exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain. You get the feeling that even when the Kerkez and Wirtz deals are completed, recruitment will not stop there.

If the movement in this first mini transfer window is any guide, Liverpool and Manchester City look like being serious forces in the market this summer. The difference is that such was City’s drop in form, Pep Guardiola is actually looking at a rebuild.

Image: Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images) Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Slot is merely strengthening - in both numbers and quality - a squad that is already very impressive. At the Anfield trophy-lifting party, FSG chairman Tom Werner saluted Slot’s achievements and said: “We owe it to all of our supporters to bring back a team even better next season.”

In this day and age, there may be no good owners - just some better than others - but at least Liverpool’s seem true to their word. They are going to be an even more formidable force next season.

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