Liverpool confirms transfer and four contract offers before next phase of Jürgen Klopp plan

Liverpool has confirmed that several players will be released this summer, but one has completed a transfer move to a Europa League side, and four others have been offered new deals.

Roberto Firmino, Naby Keïta, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had already been confirmed as departing at the end of their contracts, and they will be joined in leaving on frees by several more.

Jack Bearne, who played in the 2019 Carabao Cup quarter-final, Liam Hughes — a goalkeeper who was twice part of the Reds’ matchday squad — Charlie Hayes-Green, Oscar Kelly, Fidel O’Rourke, Oludare Olufunwa and Iwan Roberts have all been let go.

But new contract offers have been made to striker Paul Glatzel, now 22, and young goalkeeping duo Jacob Poytress and Reece Trueman. Adrián has also been offered a new deal which he is expected to accept to remain as the third choice at senior level.

The plan now is for Liverpool to continue to bring in replacements for some of the players who have left the club, with big gaps to fill in Jürgen Klopp’s side.

“I think the coach and those in charge of recruitment know that we need new players,” Ibrahima Konaté said this week. “I believe we have four players leaving this season. We have to replace them. If we don’t replace them, what do we do?

Virgil van Dijk had previously stated something similar, but there is an acceptance at Liverpool that more signings need to be made to follow new midfielder Alexis Mac Allister through the door.

In an ideal world, those new arrivals would come in and be confirmed before the players begin to come back for pre-season, with the first senior stars set to make a return to the AXA Training Centre on July 8.

Liverpool.com says: It was the right decision to move on from the likes of Firmino, Milner and Keïta, but that will only remain the case if the summer business this summer works out. There is no reason to doubt that it will, with plenty of time left for Jörg Schmadtke to be sealing more incomings over the coming weeks, working in conjunction with Klopp.

With clarification over what the squad will look like having been known broadly for some time, Liverpool has had plenty of opportunity to plan what needs to be done and make sure that Konaté’s wish comes true. In addition to Mac Allister, the Reds need at least one more midfielder (ideally two) and then possibly another defender as well.