Were Liverpool Right To Sell? The 20 Players Let Go By Manager Jurgen Klopp

Content Editor

3 years ago

Tags: Bournemouth, brighton, crystal palace, Leicester, Liverpool, Rangers, sheffield united, Southampton

We are now five and a half years into Jurgen Klopp’s reign at Liverpool and we thought it would be the right time to assess some of the players he has sold during that period.

The Reds’ squad has been transformed completely since the German’s arrival at Anfield and there have been a number of casualties along the way.

Today we list 20 players who have left the club during Klopp’s tenure in charge. It should be pointed out that the vast majority of stars who have moved on over the past five seasons have not gone on to excel elsewhere.

Press the next page as we assess whether Liverpool and Klopp made the right calls in the transfer market.

The High Profile Departures

The likes of Mamadou Sakho, Dejan Lovren, Danny Ings and Simon Mignolet were sold by Klopp for a combined £61m and looking back, the decision to sell them has been a mixed bag.

Sakho’s injury record since moving to Crystal Palace has been pretty bad so there will be no regrets letting him leave. The same with Mignolet, who has returned to a level he is comfortable with in Belgium. The Reds, though, may live to regret letting Ings go to Southampton for just £20m, while they could have done with Lovren this season, considering their current crisis at centre-back.

Sales hailed as an “Edwards Masterclass”

The fact that sporting director Michael Edwards managed to get a combined £60.5m for the likes of Rhian Brewster, Dominic Solanke, Danny Ward and Ryan Kent is quite astonishing, considering they haven’t really pulled up any trees since leaving Anfield.

Out of four, Kent has done the best, having helped guide Rangers to their first league title in a decade. Brewster has yet to score since his £23m move to Sheffield United, while Ward remains Leicester’s second choice keeper. Solanke’s 11 goals in 32 league appearances for Bournemouth this season suggests he may have finally turned a corner but he’s hardly worth £19m.

Let go on a Bosman

The Reds’ track record with Bosman departures is also mixed. Emre Can’s free transfer to Juventus may have not worked out but he is now playing well for Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Alberto Moreno has had an injury-ravaged season at Villarreal but the fact that Liverpool didn’t get anything back on their £17m investment can’t be classed as great business.

The decision to let go Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge have been justified by their continued problems with injury. Nathaniel Clyne’s departure was also not surprising after his fitness issues, while the fact that Lazar Markovic and Jon Flanagan are now plying their trades in Serbia and Belgium respectively suggest they were never up to scratch.

The lesser known stars

Ragnar Klavan was a decent budget signing for the Reds but the fact they didn’t even get their money back for him when he was sold to Cagliari for £2m probably indicates it wasn’t a good deal. The Estonian captain remains a regular for the Serie A side.

Conor Randall (now at Ross County), Adam Bogdan (Ferencvaros) and Ovie Ejaria (Reading) have found their feet at other clubs, and Andy Lonergan’s long career has taken him to West Brom. It must be said that none were good enough for the Reds.