• Unexpectedly, Jordan Henderson, who has made 491 outings for the club, and Fabinho, with 219 appearances, also look like they will be on their way.
• Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott will return after helping England win the European Under-21 Championship but, along with Thiago Alcantara, are not specialist holding midfielders.
Image: /FILE
Liverpool face the prospect of losing midfield players with a combined 1,318 appearances for them in the summer transfer window.
James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita, with 607 between them, have already left after their contracts expired.
But unexpectedly, Jordan Henderson, who has made 491 outings for the club, and Fabinho, with 219 appearances, also look like they will be on their way.
It means a midfield renovation of manager Jurgen Klopp’s side has turned into more of a full-scale rebuild.
So what has happened?
Brazil international Fabinho was the subject of a £40m bid from Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad last Friday and, as a result, did not travel with the rest of the Reds squad to a training camp in Germany the following day.
Henderson did make the trip amid links with Al-Ettifaq but, after he was left out of Liverpool’s first pre-season game against Karlsruher on Wednesday, it emerged that the club had agreed a deal in principle worth £12m plus add-ons to sell him to the Saudi side.
Along with most of the Liverpool team, both struggled last season before showing a welcome return to some form as the team won seven of their final nine games.
Unlike Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita, they were not going to be ushered to the Anfield exit door.
The initial plan, under which attacking midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai arrived, was for the Reds to work on supplementing those signings with a long-term successor to 29-year-old Fabinho.
Southampton’s 19-year-old Romeo Lavia was one of those under consideration for such a role but the Brazilian’s looming exit has somewhat changed the landscape. A player with various nicknames like the ‘lighthouse’ and ‘Dyson’ for his abilities to see and hoover up danger in the holding midfield role, the Reds could now opt to replace Fabinho with a player who is more first-team ready than Lavia.
While Henderson’s potential departure can be absorbed by the current midfielders at the club, replacing Fabinho is more complicated.
Stefan Bajcetic impressed for Klopp’s side last season, but is still only 18. Taking on Fabinho’s role is a lot of responsibility to put on his shoulders, especially considering he has been out since March because of a thigh injury.
Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott will return after helping England win the European Under-21 Championship but, along with Thiago Alcantara, are not specialist holding midfielders.
Brighton’s Moises Caicedo would fit the bill but he is expected to join Chelsea, although the Blues are yet to agree a deal for the 21-year-old, having had a £70m bid rejected.
A job for Jorg Schmadtke
A big part of how well Liverpool deal with Fabinho’s exit will depend on Liverpool sporting director Jorg Schmadtke.
In a major change off the pitch at the club this summer, the German has taken over from Julian Ward, whose final act was to bring in Argentina World Cup winner Mac Allister for an initial £35m from Brighton.
Szoboszlai’s arrival for £60m from RB Leipzig was the first signing under Schmadtke and, along with the Reds recruitment team, he has the job of dealing with the Fabinho curve ball.
Speed could be key. Mac Allister and Szoboszlai were signed before Liverpool returned for pre-season. That was crucial to give them the best chance of adapting to the team’s style of play and Klopp’s demands before the start of the season.
Any new player will have to do the same in the key defensive midfield role in Klopp’s set up, with Liverpool starting their campaign at Chelsea on August 13.
Trent Alexander-Arnold played in a hybrid right-back and midfield role for Liverpool towards the end of last season.
In the first half against Karlsruher, he was in midfield with Conor Bradley, 20, at right-back while James McConnell, 18, was in a central midfield role after 11 changes at half-time.
The evolution of Klopp’s side
Some might argue the scale of overhaul of Liverpool’s midfield might not have been as extensive had their last first-team ready midfield signing, prior to this summer, not been as far back as 2020 with Thiago’s arrival after he left Bayern Munich.
However, there have been other significant changes to a Klopp side who won the Champions League in 2019 and ended the club’s 30-year wait for a top-flight title in 2020.
The front line looks a whole lot different following the departures of Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, with Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota having been joined by fellow forwards Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo in the past 18 months.
With the changes in midfield and attack, the question now after the inconsistency and poor form of last season is whether Klopp can mould his current crop, along with any new addition(s), into another title-winning team.
Liverpool showed promise in taking 23 points from the final 27 when Klopp said the foundations for the present season were being laid but whether they can build on that remains to be seen.