Liverpool last played in the Europa League in 2015/16, when Brendan Rodgers made a successful and unsuccessful summer signing ahead of Jurgen Klopp’s arrival.
Liverpool are starting a crucial summer transfer window, with Jurgen Klopp needing to rebuild his squad ahead of the 2023/24 season.
The Reds finished fifth in the Premier League last season and will therefore enter the Europa League once the off season has finished. Klopp has guided his side in the Champions League for the last six seasons, so it will be an unusual experience next term.
He also doesn’t yet know which players he will be tackling, with Alexis Mac Allister the only confirmed newcomer. The German manager knows that James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will not be involved, having left the club after their contracts expired.
A lot of new players are needed, with the midfield being a very important area. So what can Liverpool learn from the last time they were in this position?
Mirror Football looks back at their business from the summer of 2015, before they started their 2015/16 Europa League campaign by finishing sixth under Brendan Rodgers the previous year.
Klopp is yet to arrive, but how many of the players he signed have become successful after he took over from Rodgers in October 2015? Let’s find out.
Joe Gomez
Gomez joined Liverpool from Charlton Athletic when he was just 18 after impressing in South London. The England Under-19 international cost Liverpool £3.5m in just 24 appearances – and 16 starts – for Charlton in the Championship.
Liverpool played a long game with Gomez and no doubt he repaid their faith. Still at the club, Gomez has made 173 appearances for the £3.5 million, playing at centre-back and right-back. Although he has been hampered by injury, the 26-year-old is more than a handy player, and was once Virgil van Dijk’s first-choice partner at the back.
Adam Bogdan
Bogdan joined Liverpool on a free transfer after his contract with Bolton expired. The Hungary international was 27 at the time and joined having excelled in both FA Cup games against Liverpool.
He made little impact with his new club, making just six appearances for the first team during his four years at Liverpool.
James Miller
Another free agent, Milner signed for Liverpool after his contract with Manchester City expired. He turned down a new £165,000-a-week City contract in favor of Liverpool, who arrived before Arsenal took the 29-year-old experienced midfielder.
Milner enjoyed a stellar career with Liverpool, making 332 appearances, scoring 26 goals and providing 46 assists before leaving this summer for Brighton. A fantastic professional and incredibly versatile, Milner will likely be one of Klopp’s favourites, when he finally leaves Merseyside on his own.
Danny Ings
Liverpool continued their hunt for bargains to take Ings from Burnley, taking him in after his contract expired in Lancashire. Just 22 years old at the time, Ings arrived having scored 11 goals in Burnley’s relegation campaign.
Unfortunately for both parties, things didn’t pan out for Ings at Liverpool. He made just 25 appearances over the next four years, scoring just four goals. That was largely down to injury, with an anterior cruciate tear coming in in Klopp’s first training session and another serious knee problem requiring surgery a year later.
He left on loan to Southampton in the summer of 2018 before making the move permanent.
Nathaniel Clyne
Clyne was the fourth player to move from Southampton to Anfield in a year when he completed a £12.5 million transfer. He follows Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert to Merseyside after a solid 94 appearances for the Saints.
Clyne was immediately installed as first-choice right-back by Rodgers – a position he held under Klopp, despite the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold. But a serious back injury before the 2017/18 season presented opportunities to Gomez and Alexander-Arnold and he eventually joined Bournemouth on loan in January 2019 and then suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in pre-season that summer which ended his spell. career.
Roberto Firmino
Firmino arrived from Hoffenheim on a five-year contract for around £29 million in the summer of 2015. At the time there were many doubts about the Brazilian, who became the club’s second most expensive player, after Andy Carroll (£35 million). ).
Over the next eight years he put those worries aside and became every Liverpool fan’s favourite. The hard-working, intelligent and consistent striker was an integral part of Klopp’s best squad and leaves this summer as the undisputed legend of the club.
Christian Benteke
Benteke was a serious signing that summer, arriving having scored 49 goals in 101 games for Aston Villa. He costs £32.5 million, surpassing Firmino to become the marquee arrival.
He should have been the answer after Luis Suarez’s departure left Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli and Lambert in poor form as the club’s strikers. It didn’t work like that.
Just 10 goals in 42 appearances followed by the Belgian target, who lasted just one season before being sold to Crystal Palace.
