Football Season Guide

For the third time in four years, Liverpool failed to win the title despite mustering more than 90 points in a Premier League campaign. Jurgen Klopp’s men pushed until the very last day, but they finished runners-up in a season where they reached three finals and came close to winning the quadrable. Key forward Sadio Mane joined Bayern Munich this summer, but their star Mohamed Salah finally reached an agreement to renew his contract, offering the team a huge boost. Following Mane’s departure, the Reds signed Darwin Nunez from Benfica for a club-record fee of £85m. They also offloaded a few squad players who barely enjoyed any playing time last season and signed prodigious midfielder Fabio Carvalho from newly-promoted Fulham. Coach Jurgen Klopp has stressed that Liverpool will not make any further signings. His main task now will be to help Nunez gel with Salah and January signing Luis Diaz, who has impressed following his arrival. The Mane-Firmino-Salah era is over and this is the first time that Klopp’s starting No.9 is a natural striker. Liverpool have the squad depth to compete in all competitions and they freshened up their attack with young players full of energy. They had the joint-best defence last season and possess a solid midfield with various alternatives. Mane’s departure will only be a problem in the event Nunez or Diaz fail to fill in his void.