WITH live matches still on our TV screens, pre-season games already in the diaries and fixtures for the new campaign ready to drop this week, the summer “break” from football feels like anything but.
Once upon a time these mundane months torn from the togger left the most fanatic of fans with only the transfer tattle of two-day-old tabloids to provide a football fix on a foreign beach somewhere.
Now though, it goes on. From holidaying footballers tensing torsos on social media to the tours of lands afar that will soon kick off, if you crave something, anything, about the game to fill the void, you will soon find it.
For those working in the management of the game, they will tell you they never truly switch off anyway. There is always something to consider, something to mull over, something to manage.
And as the torrent of transfer talk keeps pace with the rain hitting the pavement this week, there are plenty of managers, agents and players with work to do.
But how much of it will involve Liverpool?
Jurgen Klopp has been steadfast in his claims that The Reds will not spend big money this summer but the departure – and potential further exits – of players surely opens up one or two opportunities to wave a chequebook bolstered by a Champions League victory in Spain.
Daniel Sturridge has already waved goodbye with a touching ta-ra after six-and-a-half years and 67 goals at the club and his 27 appearances last season suggest his is a shirt that needs filling. It also frees up a significant slot on the wage bill.
As the names of potential targets role in, the local press has stuck to the line that forward berths next season will be filled by the traditional front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah, aided and abetted by Madrid hero Divock Origi and teenage sensation Rhian Brewster.
Brewster is just 19 and yet to make his first-team debut, and as for Divock: is he definitely staying at Anfield?
Remember when the most joy we were supposed to get from the second leg against Barcelona was a debut for Rhian Brewster?
One month and six unanswered goals later… pic.twitter.com/ATVMclPWzc
— Alex Mansfield (@el_mansfield) June 3, 2019
No Red would begrudge the Belgian a new deal at Anfield and a slot in the squad for another tilt at trophies, but based on his comments so far, the 24-year-old forward is keeping his options open. And who can blame him?
Just five short months ago, Liverpool were prepared to sell him to Wolves. He may think, with his stock so high, that this is the best time to secure regular first-team football elsewhere. He may also think, having had the worst of times when he swapped Liverpool for a loan spell at Wolfsburg, that the grass isn’t always greener.
It remains one to watch.
Elsewhere, Alberto Moreno, unsurprisingly, has also moved on after starting just four games last season. That’s no bother when Scotland skipper Andy Robertson is starting 36 of 38 Premier League games but should he find himself on the treatment table rather than the turf next season, what then?
With Nathaniel Clyne also a likely leaver following his loan spell at Bournemouth, The Reds look a little short in the full-back areas beyond the star pairing of Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
✍️ Southgate should build England's defence around Alexander-Arnold@grahamruthven https://t.co/A2AKFvHdpL
— Unibet (@unibet) June 11, 2019
Would James Milner really want to do a job there once again at 33 years old? And is that really where Klopp envisages Joe Gomez playing after the Reds kept nine clean sheets and conceded just five goals in 14 Premier League matches when he was paired with Virgil van Dijk in the centre of defence?
Adam Lewis is consistently mentioned regarding cover for left-back and having trained regularly with the first team his potential is clear. But, like Brewster, he is just 19 and untried and untested at Premier League level. If Liverpool are to continue to contend for the top prizes, which looks likely, it’s surely an area that will be addressed before August.
Brendan Rodgers buys Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet are another two players that could soon be calling in the removal vans. Lovren is being linked with a move to AC Milan and Liverpool haven’t been shy in saying he would be available for around the £25million mark.
After the performances of Gomez and Joel Matip at centre half, plus the promise shown by Ki-Jana Hoever and the break glass option of Fabinho, that’s no real surprise.
AC Milan are extremely interested in signing Dejan Lovren, Liverpool value the 29-year-old defender at £25m. [Sky Italia] pic.twitter.com/x4UeJocieI
— Transfer News (@TransfersLlVE) June 12, 2019
Mignolet, meanwhile, has shown an exemplary attitude given his circumstances recently but after just two appearances all season – both defeats in the domestic cups – he must surely search out regular work at the age of 31.
Those players aside, it’s hard to imagine many more calling up their agents right now and demanding out from a club with two hands firmly on Old Big Ears, eyes on the prize of the Premier League next season and feel-good through the roof.
Milner was briefly linked with a heart-over-head return to Leeds United earlier in the year but the Yorkshire club’s late-season choke in the Championship surely put paid to that idea for someone who is loved by the manager, appears vital to spirit and doesn’t look ready to walk away from Premier League football anytime soon.
Adam Lallana was another said to be off, with former club Southampton interested. After two seasons without a goal for Liverpool, and only 16 appearances in the last campaign, the dot-joining appeared to make a picture that made sense for a 31-year-old player in the last year of his contract.
Lallana, though, has other ideas, saying last week: “I couldn’t be happier here, winning Champions Leagues.”
Asked Adam Lallana if he was staying at #LFC this summer. "Yeah, absolutely no question about it," he said. "I couldn’t be happier here, winning Champions Leagues. I know my ability & I know what I can give"
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) June 5, 2019
And that’s the key. Whereas in the not-too-distant past Liverpool fans may have got fidgety over consistently elite performers in red alerting the big boys abroad, perceptions have now shifted: Liverpool ARE the big boys.
Which is why the idea of Manchester United – as poor as they’ve been league-wise in 40-plus years – being linked with Mo Salah was greeted with howls of laughter on Merseyside. Why would he go there?
Klopp said back in March that his model for success is to "bring together a group of players, try to develop them all together and then stay together for a while".
That appears to be exactly what is happening. Any leavers of Liverpool this summer will be on Liverpool’s terms, with star players tied down contractually and, more importantly, happy.
As Klopp said of Liverpool sides past: “When they had a good team after a season they [star players] went all over the world. That will not happen this year."
Whack on the sun cream (or put up the brolly) and worry not this summer. Liverpool as a force are here to stay. And so are Liverpool’s best players. Now who fancies joining the European Champions and experiencing those parade scenes first-hand?
