Did Liverpool really have the worst transfer window in history in 2025?

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FT Desk

In the summer of 2025, Liverpool were fresh off a Premier League title victory, just their second ever and their first under manager Arne Slot, who achieved the feat on his first attempt.

The message at the moment was clear: improve the squad from a position of strength as champions.

They would go on to spend €483 million on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni and Armin Pecsi.

Twice they smashed the British transfer record, initially on Wirtz and then on Isak.

However, the 2025/26 season proved a disastrous one as their title defence came and went with a whimper and they finished fifth. That was still enough to qualify for the Champions League, but not enough for Slot to keep his job.

In the opinion of club legend Jamie Carragher, that transfer window will go down as perhaps the worst conducted by any team in Premier League history.

"Arguably the WORST transfer window in Premier League history" 🤯@Carra23 speaks about Liverpool's £445m spend last season and how it may have set the club back a year or two 📉 pic.twitter.com/3M6wqmpoOW

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 24, 2026

Speaking after Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Newcastle on Sunday, he said on Sky Sports:

"It's the first game of the season, but my fear is this window of 12 months ago could set Liverpool back a year or two, to fix it.

"Yes, it's one game under Iraola, but we're talking 12 months of underperformance from all of these players except [Ekitike].

"If this doesn't change in the next two or three months under Iraola, and these players improving, I think we're going to be looking at that as arguably the worst transfer window we've probably seen in Premier League history, when you consider the fees for these players, and what it's going to do for Liverpool."

Let's assess how each player performed.

Alexander Isak (€145m from Newcastle)

Isak went on strike at Newcastle to force through the switch to Liverpool and the Reds eventually got their man - one of the best strikers in the league from the previous campaign.

The main issue with the Swede was availability and fitness, as he only started 22 games in all competitions for the club in his debut campaign. When he was available, there was no doubt that he wasn't fully match fit, as he returned just four goals and one assist.

Even when he seemed to be gaining momentum, he was struck down, and that happened in December of 2026 when he fractured his leg after a tackle from Tottenham's Micky van de Ven.

What was concerning was Isak's demeanour as he no longer looked the swaggering, towering centre-forward of the Magpies. He looked unassured of himself and that was the case again as he made his first return to St James' Park on the first day of this season.

He missed a glaring opportunity and then bottled hitting a penalty in the last minute, as Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up to score.

Florian Wirtz (€125m from Bayer Leverkusen)

Wirtz’s first season at Liverpool in 2025/26 was better than Isak's, but below the level expected of such an expensive signing.

He made 33 Premier League appearances, scoring five goals and providing three assists. Across all competitions, he finished with seven goals and 10 assists in 49 appearances.

The main criticism was that he didn’t consistently influence games enough, particularly considering his huge transfer fee. He showed flashes of the creativity and technical quality that made him so highly rated at Bayer Leverkusen, but Liverpool will expect significantly more from him in 2026/27.

In the first game against Newcastle, he was again on the periphery of things and was hooked not long after the hour mark.

Hugo Ekitike (€95m from Eintracht Frankfurt)

Ekitike was undoubtedly the biggest success story from last summer and he started like a house on fire, too, with two goals in his first two games against Bournemouth and Newcastle.

Having said that, he did go through dry spells, including a run of just one goal in 11 games in the first half of the campaign.

A return of 17 goals and six assists across all competitions is not to be sniffed at but in April he was cruelly cut down with an Achilles tendon rupture that saw him miss the end of the campaign and the World Cup.

He is not expected back until at least the new year.

Milos Kerkez (€46.9m from Bournemouth)

Brought in as the long-term successor to Andy Robertson, Kerkez was coming off a fine season at Bournemouth to earn a switch to the Reds.

He showed plenty of energy and attacking ability, but struggled at times defensively and appeared uncomfortable in Slot’s system. Kerkez himself has said the season was difficult, with his natural overlapping style somewhat restricted.

Though he can be feisty, his stature puts him at a disadvantage whenever dealing with powerful wingers and we saw just that against Newcastle as he was roasted time and time again by Anthony Elanga.

With no other left-back in the squad, he'll be expected to play every game, too.

Jeremie Frimpong (€40m from Leverkusen)

Frimpong had a lot of support behind him when he first signed as he was the man tasked with replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold, who left under a cloud to sign for Real Madrid.

Liverpool fans desperately wanted him to succeed to prove they didn't need Trent. It turns out they did, and still do, as Frimpong toiled in his first season and was barely available due to injuries.

Numerous players had to fill in at right-back, including Szoboszlai, and that upset the balance of the rest of the team.

Absolutely rapid? Yes? Can he defend? No. Can he cross? Also No.

Giovanni Leoni (€29.45m from Parma)

Leoni’s first season at Liverpool was effectively ruined by injury. The 18-year-old made his competitive debut against Southampton in the Carabao Cup in September 2025.

Unfortunately, he suffered an ACL injury during that debut, ruling him out for the rest of the season and into the start of the next.

Armin Pecs (€1.75m)

The Hungarian goalkeeper spent most of 2025/26 with Liverpool's U21s.

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FT Desk

FootballTransfers' desk

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