A former Liverpool star has offered an insight into the club’s future transfer plans, having outlined how the Reds can adjust to life after Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk and with the planned replacement for Ibrahima Konate also revealed.
The Reds invested heavily this summer spending around £440m on new players to significantly enhance Arne Slot’s side. And while a total of 19 players either signed or departed on permanent deals, Liverpool still look like the team to beat this season after a strong start to the season.
All the same, Slot’s big Anfield rebuild is far from done, and the club look increasingly likely to need a replacement for Konate in 2026.
The French defender’s deal is due to expire next June and several sources have outlined the “difficult situation” the club finds themselves in with Konate and with Real Madrid hovering over another free transfer raid on Anfield.
Further down the line, Liverpool will also need to replace club icons Salah and Van Dijk.
And while the duo both signed new two-year deals this summer, former Reds striker Dean Saunders has exclusively told TEAMtalk that succession planning at Anfield will have already begun.
“You look ahead, and there’s Ibrahima Konate. It looks like he’ll be joining Real Madrid on a free, and they seem to be positioning themselves to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace. He’ll have a bedding-in period where he’ll be told to raise his game and match the expected standards at Anfield. The same happened to Mark Wright when he joined,” Saunders told TEAMtalk in association with Bestbettingsites.com.
“But yeah, in the future, they will need to know how they replace Salah and Van Dijk, but it won’t be like-for-like. You just have to buy the best you can and hope they too are able to become legends. It’s worked at Anfield for a few years now, and that’s why they have kept winning.”
Saunders added: “Keeping Salah in the summer, though, was vital. It was a statement to the rest of the world that they mean business, they were looking to win in Europe and the league for the coming seasons. It’s the same for signing Van Dijk to his new deal. It convinces the players they want to sign that they are serious about winning for the next few years.”
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New signings are sold the ‘Liverpool way’
Liverpool have made a whirlwind start to the new season and sit top of the Premier League table with six games played so far.
As a result, they will seemingly take some stopping this season to prevent back-to-back Premier League titles heading to Merseyside; the first time they will have defended a league crown since 1982/83 and 83/84 if it comes off.
Giving an insight into the message Liverpool send to new signings, Saunders draws on his own experience of signing for the Reds back in 1991.
“When I arrived at Liverpool, I understood how Liverpool dominated. I was 26 when I arrived and despite playing well before, it was at Liverpool where I realised just how things are done at a top club.
“It’s the same for the players who’ve joined now. There’s Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, and the others that have arrived for half a billion pounds. Alexander Isak is there, too, but in the coming weeks those transfer fees will fade from memory.
“Remember, they paid up for Sadio Mane, for Mo Salah, but as they become cogs in the machine the transfer fees will be forgotten.
“When you arrive at Liverpool, it’s made clear that you’re playing for the team. You’re asked if you want a cabinet full of medals, or if you just want to play for yourself. Because players now have to be part of a team, and that team will just win everything. It doesn’t matter who scores, whether it’s a tap-in from a midfielder or a screamer from a striker.
“When I was there, we were told there were three ways to stop us. They could stop us going through them, around them, or over them. Then it was up to us to work out how to get through. We wouldn’t be told too much, we’d be given the responsibility to go and win the game.”
New signings need time to bed-in as title race is assessed
Saunders insists criticism of some of Liverpool’s new arrivals is unwarranted and some of them will need time to adjust.
However, he thinks the successor policy employed by the club is a sound one and thinks it will serve them well in the long run.
Saunders continued: “For the likes of Wirtz, for example, is learning to be part of the team. He’s won plenty of games already, and still people are asking what he does. Well, he’s part of the machine that keeps winning. Ekitike, he’s been outstanding, he’s doing the same.
“Obviously, they’ve signed Milos Kerkez to take over from Andy Robertson. Robertson has the edge right now, I think. On the other flank, Jeremie Frimpong has already replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“In midfield, I saw Ryan Gravenberch in the Champions League, and he’s so mature. It’s like men against boys, the way he takes the ball on the half-term. He just looks a bigger, stronger player than everyone. Then you’ve got Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, and they look fully loaded across the pitch.
“They look already like they’re heading in the right direction, but you can see they’re struggling a little. Adjusting to five new players has given them some rough edges, they’re not running like clockwork as they work. They’ve scraped through some games, but that’s a sign of a determined team too. But they’re probably conceding too many and hoping to outscore at the other end, and that’s a risk.
“They’re a bit shaky at the back, but they’ve got two new full-backs, so that’s to be expected. They’ve had Szoboszlai filling in in defence, and so that might give Arsenal an advantage.
“The Gunners look more settled; they’ve been building for years. They’ve got Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, so they’re full of danger up front. It could be their season, but if Liverpool keep winning they are giving their new players the chance and time to settle in for the long haul.”
Latest Liverpool news: Glasner shares true feelings on Guehi; mouthwatering triple deal touted
One of the players Saunders confirms Liverpool still want is Guehi and now Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has revealed what the player told him after the plug was pulled on his dream move to Anfield on transfer deadline day.
Glasner’s words come amid claims from our sources that a 2026 move to the Reds could now be brought forwards.
As far as Konate replacements go, Dayot Upamecano has reportedly made his ‘demands’ clear to Bayern Munich amid interest from Liverpool, with Real Madrid also eyeing a move for the central defender next summer.
It’s not just a new defender Liverpool want to sign in 2026, with a report naming the mouthwatering triple deal the Reds hope to secure next year, with an ‘unflappable’ Premier League star top of their wishlist.