From Alexander-Arnold to Konate: How Liverpool Lost £250m in Transfer Value

Since 2020, Liverpool have had some significant players in their squad running down their contracts and leaving for free.

Highly rated French international Ibrahima Konate is the most recent of Liverpool players to have joined that list following his announcement on 31st May that his 5 year spell at the club has come to an end.

It begs the question how well run the club truly is when it comes to contracts, as they seem to be one of a just a few clubs in world football to make a huge debacle over new deals.

Last season alone, during Liverpool’s first Premier League title-winning campaign in front of fans, there were non-stop talks around Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s contracts.

Let’s take a look at the significant players over the years who have left the club for free.

Whilst Konate implied a deal may have been close with Liverpool back in April, reports broke from Ben Jacobs and Alex Cook that suggested a deal would not be reached, and he would leave the club with several linked moves to Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich and Chelsea

It’s not been the greatest season for Ibrahima Konate, but that’s been the case for the majority of the squad. Liverpool have reached multiple finals with Konate in their squad: Carabao Cup x3, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League and Community Shield x2.

He signed for Liverpool in 2021 for €40 million from RB Leipzig. His first season, arguably his best, saw him and Matip rotated to partner alongside Virgil van Dijk.

Unfortunately for Konate, he has had injury problems in the past, keeping him from getting consistent game time. Since Arne Slot has come in, he has seemed to overcome these issues. Missing just 6 league games in 2 seasons due to one knee injury.

It’s not a disaster seeing Konate leave the club, as his talent is replaceable (with another top player). However, taking contract length out of the discussion, this is a (minimum) £75 million player. A huge, valuable asset that leaves the club for free is not a great look at all.

When leaving the club:

Age - 27

Transfermarkt Value - £50 million

Joined - /

A beautiful farewell for Mohamed Salah was given on the final matchday of the season but it didn’t need to end in the sour way that it did.

Salah had a clearly broken relationship with not only Arne Slot but also ‘higher-ups’ at Liverpool, so the only option for the current PFA Player of the Year was to leave despite having 1 year left on his contract.

Mohamed Salah claimed that he was on the verge of leaving last season as his contract was entering its final months, but the club found an agreement with the Egyptian king, keeping him on board for what should have been an extra 2 years.

If Liverpool didn’t find that agreement with Salah last April, they would’ve been saying goodbye to the Premier League’s best player of the year, top goal scorer and top assister… for free.

Some will say now is the right time for him to move on, but if his mentality is anything to go by, he’ll have a point to prove against this club.

Last summer, Liverpool could well have had offers worth over £100 million for Mohamed Salah from Saudi Arabia, as they did in 2023, but he now leaves for nothing.

When leaving the club:

Age - 33

Transfermarkt Value - £30 million

Joined - /

Following the signing of Milos Kerkez, Andy Robertson’s decision to leave the club isn’t surprising to anyone.

His departure almost came earlier in the season with Robertson confirming he was close to joining Spurs, but the deal fell through.

There wouldn’t be a lot of value placed on Andy Robertson now, and departures like this are ones to be fond of, as he gave his best years to this football club, not treating it like a stepping stone.

During this season, too, he has helped with the development of his understudy, Milos Kerkez. 

He had a very rocky start to his Liverpool career, but outside of the mainstream media, the true consensus around Kerkez is that he’s been excellent since the new year.

When leaving the club:

Age - 32

Transfermarkt Value - £10 million

Joined - /

The scouser in the team. The boyhood Liverpool fan. He had plans of retiring at Liverpool, but instead, he executed possibly the most distasteful departure in this club’s history as he left for European rivals Real Madrid by running down his contract.

There was absolutely nothing that Liverpool could do in this situation. They offered him similar numbers to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, but he opted for a move to Spain.

A move that reportedly had been in the works for multiple years. When a player has made up his mind to craft this route, the club can’t do anything but just accept the situation, which is what they did.

He left the club for £10 million as Real Madrid were keen to have him on board for their Club World Cup tournament, but without the tournament taking place, his departure would’ve seen no income for Liverpool.

When leaving the club:

Age - 26

Transfermarkt Value - £75 million

Joined - Real Madrid

Naby Keita suffered multiple injuries during his time at Liverpool, preventing him from fulfilling his true potential. He was signed for €60 million and currently has a market value of €1.5 million, as he lifted his second Hungarian league title with Ferencvarosi.

His Liverpool career is often looked back on in poor taste, but he played a significant role in helping the club win the Carabao Cup and FA Cup during the 21/22 season.

There’s an extremely strong case to argue that Keita should have departed the club following the 21/22 season. Instead, he left for free the following year.

When leaving the club:

Age - 28

Transfermarkt Value - £12 million

Joined - Werder Bremen

A similar career to Naby Keita, some amazing moments at times, including 2 special goals against Manchester City, but injuries seriously dampened his ability.

He had an excellent first season for the club as we pushed for Champions League success, but a significant injury that kept him out of the following season had such a negative impact on his career, and he never returned to the same player he once was.

Once again, similar to Naby Keita, there are question marks as to why Chamberlain didn’t depart after the 21/22 season, instead leaving for free the following year.

When leaving the club:

Age - 29

Transfermarkt Value - £7 million

Joined - Besiktas

A similar scenario with Andy Robertson, this was the perfect time for James Milner to leave the club. He won everything there was to win and gave everything to the club, even at 37 years old.

When leaving the club:

Age - 37

Transfermarkt Value - £1.5 million

Joined - Brighton

Joel Matip, who signed for free in 2015 from Schalke, decided to hang up the boots following the 23/24 season, where he suffered from a long-term injury. Something he was unfortunately accustomed to during his time here.

Another player who gave his absolute best years to this football club and will always be a fan favourite.

When leaving the club:

Age - 33

Transfermarkt Value - /

Joined - /

Thiago had signed from Bayern Munich for €22 million at 29 years old. This transfer was only going to be positive given the price tag and his age.

He suffered from a serious amount of injuries during his time at Liverpool, but the 21/22 season was one to cherish and question ‘what if?’ when it comes to asking how many more trophies Liverpool could have won if he stayed fit.

When leaving the club:

Age - 33

Transfermarkt Value - /

Joined - Barcelona (coach)

Bobby Firmino had another beautiful farewell, which left him in tears, scoring in both his final home game at the club and his final ever game against Southampton.

Firmino was part of the greatest front 3 in Premier League history and will be recognised as a footballing legend as he transformed the centre forward role into what it is today.

He could have still offered a European club his qualities, with Real Madrid chasing his signature, but Firmino discussed that a move to the Spanish club didn’t feel right, so he turned them down, something Alexander-Arnold felt incapable of doing.

Firmino has now enjoyed his time in Saudi Arabia, becoming the first (of three) players to win both the UEFA Champions League and the AFC Champions League. His trophy cabinet has only extended as his side became the Qatari Champions this season.

When leaving the club:

Age - 31

Transfermarkt Value - £15 million

Joined - Al-Ahli

The Lionel Messi of super subs, Divock Origi. The Belgian striker helped Liverpool achieve some of the greatest successes the fanbase has seen, with multiple goals in Merseyside derbies, a brace in the most historic Champions League semi-final of all time and a late goal in the final to seal the deal as Liverpool lifted their 6th European Cup in Madrid.

The club handed out a new deal to Divock Origi following his Champions League success in 2019, keeping him at the club to the end of the 21/22 season. All in all, it played out perfectly.

He had a huge role alongside Takumi Minamino, helping enormously in the earlier rounds of the domestic cups, which Liverpool went on to win in two finals against Chelsea. Origi scored in the penalty shootout of the Carabao Cup victory.

He was linked with a move to Wolverhampton Wanderers but decided to stay and see out his contract. However, yet again, Liverpool have let a player with some value go for absolutely nothing. On the back end of this campaign, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if the club raised at least £15-20 million for the player, especially considering he joined Italian giants AC Milan.

When leaving the club:

Age - 27

Transfermarkt Value - £12 million

Joined - AC Milan

Gini Wijnaldum felt like the first case of a key Jurgen Klopp player leaving the club in an unexpected way. He clearly still had quality but had a decline from the previous Premier League-winning season.

With more years left on his deal, a fee may have been sought out to have sold Wijnaldum in the summer he left the club, but Liverpool found themselves in a situation where the player had made up his mind to leave, whilst having no time left on his contract, so the club didn’t gain anything.

Wijnaldum then moved to PSG to become French league champions, playing alongside Messi, Mbappe and Neymar.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Gini, however, as he lacked game time during his time at the club and sought out a loan move to Jose Mourinho’s Roma and later moved to Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq, where he briefly played alongside Jordan Henderson.

When leaving the club:

Age - 30

Transfermarkt Value - £30 million

Joined - PSG

According to Transfermarkt, the total of these losses would have been £242.5 million. When you take into account that these figures have been heavily affected by players entering the final year of their contracts, too, it makes for poor reading. Trent Alexander-Arnold alone is worth significantly more than £75 million.

Other significant players have left the club for free in recent years, such as Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne.

Liverpool has repeatedly allowed assets to depreciate to £0. For some players who gave their best years to the club, that figure doesn’t represent anything.

This category belongs to players like James Milner, Joel Matip and Andy Robertson. They’ve fulfilled their time at Liverpool and left at exactly the right time. Leaving for free allows them to decide their next journey and not who can match Liverpool’s insignificant asking price.

However, this theme of allowing big players to leave for next to nothing has now seen the most valuable full back in football history run down his contract, and France’s number 1 starting centre back depart because the club aren’t willing to pay an increase in wages.

Whether anyone agrees with the club’s decision (to not value Konate as highly as he seems to himself) or not has no impact on understanding that this is a terrible outcome, allowing him to leave for free.

If you think that Konate will be the last player Liverpool has a contract conflict with, you have been very mistaken. In 2027, Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Wataru Endo, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones, Calvin Ramsay, Harvey Davies and Stefan Bajcetic all go into their final years.

With 2028 seeing Chiesa, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister and Ngumoha head into theirs.

Liverpool has to start acting more quickly and effectively. Unless they get a thrill from these long-winded contracts and negotiations, it seems so bizarre that a club is content with allowing itself to have key players enter the final 2 years of their contracts with no real optimism that anything can be signed.