This is not the first time in Fenway Sports Group’s near-16-year tenure at Liverpool that a transfer window has ended with fans and pundits convinced the first-team squad has been left short.
But the biggest difference between now and much of the Americans’ reign is that, these days, the doubters are more likely than ever to be right.
That was rarely the case between 2016 and 2020, when a widely envied transfer operation built a team that arguably became the best in the world for a period under Jurgen Klopp.
However, the business done in the years since has made it tougher to believe that the recruitment staff remain “the smartest men in the room”, as has been previously suggested.
And the latest evidence that things have changed for the worse has been provided by a somewhat chaotic 2026 summer window that, for many, has ended in disappointment.
In working out how we have reached this point, it is hard to look beyond the fact Liverpool have cycled through three sporting directors in the four years since Michael Edwards’ hugely successful six-year stint in the role.
This is a position created to bring continuity to clubs, yet at Anfield it has only brought an uncertainty that has manifested itself in a failure to extend the contracts of key men such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate before it was too late.
It has also led to previously uncharacteristic errors in the market, with Federico Chiesa, Jeremie Frimpong and Giorgi Mamardashvili among the acquisitions that have yet to prove their worth.
Unfortunately for Liverpool, they are finding that correcting those mistakes is now more difficult than ever as a result of the advances made by the clubs around them.
The famed analytics-based edge they once boasted has been chipped away in recent years, while the Premier League money boom has resulted in more clubs having the means to act on their data early.
The Reds’ response has been to shift to a model that prioritises quality over quantity, making use of record revenues to do bigger deals that, in theory, offer more guarantees.
However, it cannot be lost on them that Arsenal did much the opposite last summer, bolstering their squad numbers at the expense of stardust at the top end of the pitch, and were rewarded with a Premier League title and Champions League final appearance.
As for Liverpool, the aforementioned “quality” has thus far failed to deliver to such a degree that Jamie Carragher recently suggested their last summer could go down as the worst Premier League transfer window of all time.
The former England defender did at least couch that harsh assessment by adding that the players involved are all deserving of a fresh slate under Andoni Iraola.
And that view aligns with the feeling among the decision-makers at Anfield, who dismissed Arne Slot partly because they believed he was not getting enough out of last summer’s acquisitions.
However, the Dutchman was adamant during his final weeks in charge that further additions were required to truly unlock those signings, and it is not yet clear whether Liverpool have delivered on that front.
To the club’s credit, Bradley Barcola was hardly a bargain, but his signing was the culmination of a patient, five-year long pursuit, and he arrives aged just 23 with an established pedigree as a goalscorer, creator, and winner at the highest level.
The early signs are also positive on Victor Munoz, Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo, albeit the latter has only arrived on loan.
But Liverpool never seemed quite as in control of their search for a right winger that began with a botched attempt to sign Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig.
Clearly, the club do not deserve criticism for attempting to sign one of the most highly sought after young players in the world, particularly as Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid ended up fighting it out for his signature.
Yet the response to missing out left a lot to be desired, with several bids rejected for the injured Yankuba Minteh before an inexplicable chase for Ismaila Sarr also failed.
It is not so much that the latter is a poor player, but that Liverpool even considered spending more than £60m on a 28-year-old is so antithetical to how they have been run under FSG that it can only have been motivated by panic.
Had that deal got over the line, then it is hard to imagine it would not have severely damaged a hard-earned reputation for only spending big on high-upside players with resale value.
Still, because it did not, Liverpool have been left hoping that their inability to swap Cody Gakpo for a winger more comfortable on the right, as well as their gambles in other areas of the pitch, will not come back to haunt them.
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Internally, there exists a belief that Gakpo can build on his strong start to the season despite missing out on a move, and that the returns of Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez along with time on the training pitch will ease the issues at right-back and in midfield respectively.
But the fact is that Liverpool’s bets come off far less frequently these days, and so it is no wonder that supporters are heading into the new season full of trepidation.