BBC Sport have ran a very interesting report which sheds some light on the financial implications COVID-19 will have on football going forward.
Using data from Transfermarkt, they report that overall, the value of players at Premier League sides has dropped by £1.6bn, with Liverpool’s squad now worth £870m as opposed to 1.075bn it was previously.
Only Manchester City’s playing squad has experienced a bigger drop, and you can see in the table below the extent of the issue:
Of Liverpool players, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane have experienced the biggest estimated value drop, by £27m each – both down to £108m.
The figures are largely guesswork, of course, and don’t directly influence transfer fees, but transfer expert Matthias Seidel has explained it’s almost impossible for future fees to continue to grow on the back of the pandemic.
“The current global cut (in transfer fees) is a reaction to the extraordinary general situation, in light of which it can’t be ruled out that a further cut has to be made in a few weeks,” he Seidel.
“At the moment, it is difficult to imagine that transfer fees will continue to rise as they have in previous years in the foreseeable future.”
Thankfully, Liverpool already has its squad and team set for the next few years and don’t necessarily need to do too much in the market apart from replacing squad players.
We thought we’d buy a new forward before next term, but perhaps COVID-19 will convince Liverpool to blood Rhian Brewster or Harry Wilson instead.