Liverpool Transfer Spend Hits Club-Record $565M With Isak Deal

By Kurt Badenhausen

Liverpool FC dominated the 2024-25 Premier League season, winning the title with four games left in the season. It lost only two of its first 34 matches before taking its foot off the gas. It was its 20th league crown, matching Manchester United for the most all-time in England.

The biggest swing was for Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak, after the two clubs reached a deal just ahead of the transfer window closing on Monday. The reported cost was a Premier League record £125 million ($169 million based on current exchange rates) for the Swedish star, topping Liverpool’s earlier outlay this summer for Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen for up to £116 million ($157 million). Last month, Isak posted on Instagram that Newcastle broke “promises” to him and that their “relationship can’t continue.”

The buying spree marked a startling shift for Liverpool, which, before this year, had the Premier League’s top summer transfer spend only once (2018) during the past 25 years. The top spender coming off a title is also rare, with Manchester City’s 2019 summer the only other case since Man United in 2007.

After Isak and Wirtz, Liverpool’s biggest outlays this summer were for Hugo Ekitiké from Eintracht Frankfurt for $111 million and Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for $55 million. Ekitiké is off to a worthy start, scoring in his first three matches with his new club.

Fenway Sports Group has garnered a reputation for being conservative when it came to splashy transfers since acquiring the team in 2010 for £300 million ($476 million at 2010 exchange rates). Reds fans grumbled that FSG spent too much money and attention on Liverpool’s sister club, MLB’s Boston Red Sox. The complaints have shifted the other direction across the Atlantic, with Red Sox player spending being outside the top 10 for three years straight, following two decades in the top five through 2020. Three last-place finishes in five years in the American League East haven’t helped.

The team is also dealing with the shocking death of forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva in a single-car crash in July. Liverpool retired his No. 20 in his honor, but the tragic accident left a hole on the team’s front line.

Liverpool’s net transfer spend this summer is $309 million, well ahead of their prior record of $176 million in 2018. Chelsea spent the second-most during the summer transfer window among EPL teams at $383 million-the Blues also sold players for $368 million. Arsenal had the biggest net spend at $332 million.

Winning at Liverpool creates a “virtuous circle,” according to chief commercial officer Ben Latty. “Commercial success drives football success, and football success drives commercial success,” Latty told Sportico in May.

Two-thirds of Liverpool’s $773 million in 2023-24 revenue was from “controllable” streams, including matchday ($128 million) and commercial ($389 million). Broadcasting, which includes prize money based on performance, got a boost for the 2024-25 season with the first-place EPL finish that carried a $236 million payout.

Liverpool ranked fourth in Sportico‘s soccer team valuations at $5.59 billion.