As summer loomed at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, Liverpool were forlorn after failing to qualify for the Champions League despite constructing a nine-match unbeaten run to close the Premier League season.
Jurgen Klopp's side has endured a miserable year that was a consequence of ineptitude on the transfer market, which might sound harsh, but until the £35m signing of Alexis Mac Allister in June, Thiago Alcantara (in 2020, for £20m) had been the sole midfield acquisition since the arrivals of Fabinho and Naby Keita in the summer of 2018.
Of course, that's barring the loan signing of Arthur Melo on deadline day last year – who played just 13 minutes for the Reds – very much a panic-filled attempt to fortify the centre after failing to sign the desired target of Aurelien Tchouameni, instead deciding to wait until the following year.
Alexis Mac Allister
£35m
Dominik Szoboszlai
£60m
Wataru Endo
£16m
Ryan Gravenberch
£34m
All fees sourced via Sky Sports
This time around, it looks like Klopp and co have got it (largely) right, with the midfield now comprehensively transformed and last season's malaise already a fleeting memory after a promising start to the season, ten points from the opening four matches – including victories over Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Aston Villa and an inexorable draw to Chelsea.
Why did Jordan Henderson leave Liverpool?
As the revamped midfield roars into life, it does so at the expense of a wealth of aces integral to the construction of Klopp's dynasty, with James Milner, Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain departing in June as their contracts expired, Fabinho and captain Jordan Henderson being sold to Saudi Arabian sides and Fabio Carvalho joining RB Leipzig on loan.
The process was undoubtedly accelerated beyond the club's anticipation, however, with Fabinho and Henderson's heads turned by the lucrative and tantalising proposition of joining the Saudi revolution.
With so much leadership filtering out over the past several months, Klopp would have preferred to retain the services of long-time club servant Henderson, but by the player's own admission in a recent interview with The Athletic, 'a few things got the alarm bells ringing', with the England international saying "at no point did I feel wanted by the club or anyone to stay."
Sold to Al-Ettifaq for £13m in July, so ended an illustrious and industrious career on Merseyside, with the 33-year-old closing the door on a 492-appearance stay at Liverpool, with the one-time Sunderland youngster donning the armband for the whole gamut of trophy-winning success under Klopp's wing.
Liverpool's leader had gone, an emblematic figurehead of a prosperous period in the Premier League outfit's history, but given his aging legs and performances at the epicentre of the strife last term, married with the exciting start to the campaign as the new-look centre clicks into gear, his departure perhaps came at a fitting time.
It could have been so much worse, with one irreplaceable phenom also attracting attention from the Saudi Pro League wave…
Is Mohamed Salah leaving Liverpool?
Mohamed Salah. Heralded as "lightning" by Reds historian Carl Clemente and believed to be "one of the greatest of all time" by former Ballon d'Or winner Michael Owen – unequivocally one of Liverpool's finest stars in their distinguished history.
Signed from Italian side Roma in a £34m deal in 2017, the Egyptian forward, aged 31, has posted 188 goals and 81 assists from just 309 displays in Red, with his ferocious finishing and creative ingenuity paramount to the rise over the past years.
Still contracted until 2025, the £350k-per-week gem has been fervently pursued by Saudi side Al-Ittihad this summer, with the outfit tabling a staggering £150m bid on deadline day last week, though Liverpool's unwavering stance rebuffed the advances.
Despite this, the suitors are expected to return for Salah, likely in winter and – if their next advances are also rejected – next summer.
As per FBref, Salah ranks among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe's top five leagues over the past years and the top 9% for assists per 90, underscoring a value and threat as the attacking spearhead that will make for a stressful task in identifying a successor.
However, the Merseyside team might already boast some precocious talents on the books to grow into starring roles in Salah and Henderson's positions under the Anfield lights.
Who are Liverpool's most promising youngsters?
Liverpool do not have the most productive of youth academies in English football, but when an aspiring talent does break into first-team reckoning, they cement starring positions.
Steven Gerrard and Trent Alexander-Arnold are the notable names of past decades, but now Klopp could be on the cusp of welcoming two talented gems to the starting line-up with regularity.
First, Stefan Bajcetic has made his return to action of late after spending many months out injured, with the 18-year-old earning a spot on the bench for the last three outings in the Premier League.
The Spaniard rose to prominence last term as he earned minutes to combat the woes of the midfield, sapped of vitality and requiring a spark – earning praise for his "brilliant" start to life on the major stage and his "tenacious" displays by pundit Jamie Carragher.
Making 19 appearances and scoring a goal against Aston Villa after a box-crashing surge, Bajcetic took to life in the central midfield without seam, elegant on the ball and composed and brave in his presence, impressing with his range of passing, with Statman Dave claiming he “looked right at home”.
The youngster could well be the perfect heir to Henderson's position in the squad, and as he grows into his skin over the coming years he could match the intensity and intelligence of the former skipper at his best.
Replacing Salah is indeed a quandary of a whole new level, but with prodigious 17-year-old Ben Doak on the fast rise, such a burden could be alleviated.
Signed from Celtic last year, with Liverpool paying a compensation fee of about £600k, the Scottish teenager has already made six senior appearances and has been prolific at youth level, scoring 11 goals and supplying eight assists from just 22 games for the U18s and U21s.
An electric-paced, fleet-footed and buccaneering talent, Doak is already displaying some promising signs and there is every possibility that he will forge a career at the very top of the game, having been praised as a "special" prospect by Klopp.
Change is afoot at Anfield, but football endures. Henderson's leadership and staunch loyalty to Liverpool over the past decade or so has been crucial to the resurgence, and Salah has etched his name into the club's history as one of the most devastating forwards of the modern game.
It feels like Liverpool is approaching a new chapter, but with first-class talents such as Doak and Bajcetic rising to the fore, the silver-laden success could yet continue.
