Gerrard’s Regret Over Liverpool’s Transfer Misses
Liverpool’s season has been shaped as much by the deals they didn’t do as the ones they did.
The reigning Premier League champions ripped up and rebuilt large parts of their squad last summer, smashing the British transfer record twice in the process. Arne Slot has had to knit that new group together under intense scrutiny while trying to drag Liverpool over the line and back into the Champions League.
A 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at the weekend did exactly that, nudging the Reds above Aston Villa into fourth and all but sealing their place at Europe’s top table. Yet even with that box ticked, Steven Gerrard can’t shake the feeling of what might have been.
Gerrard’s regret over ‘two bargains’
For Gerrard, the damage was done in January.
Liverpool had been heavily linked with Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, only to watch both end up at Manchester City. The former Crystal Palace captain Guehi had been at the centre of a long-running transfer saga and looked, at one stage, destined to arrive at Anfield as a free agent this coming summer.
Semenyo, who had burst into form with Bournemouth, was another name on Liverpool’s radar. His power and directness made him one of the most talked-about forwards outside the traditional elite. City moved decisively, landing the pair for a combined £95 million and handing Pep Guardiola two ready-made options for the run-in.
“They should be playing for Liverpool, so that hurts even more,” Gerrard told TNT Sports. “We were linked with two of those players and that would have made a big difference to Liverpool.
“But I’ve said it before on record. Two top, top players. And for the price that they got them in as well. One on a free. One was, you know, £60million.
“In today’s market, they’re two bargains. They’re two bargains. Quality players, experienced, ready to go into the prime years of their career. International-level players. And what they’ve done is they’ve just helped kick City on at the right time.”
It’s that last point that will grate most on Merseyside. Not only did Liverpool miss out, they watched their main domestic rival strengthen with players Gerrard is convinced would have slotted straight into Slot’s side.
Kelleher ready to spoil Salah’s send-off
While Liverpool wrestle with the long-term consequences of those transfer near-misses, another departure looms large.
Mohamed Salah is preparing to leave Anfield at the end of the season, and the club’s all-time great is chasing a fitting farewell. One of his former team-mates is plotting to ruin it.
Caoimhin Kelleher, now at Brentford, could be the goalkeeper tasked with facing Salah on the final day, fitness permitting. The 27-year-old is blunt about his intentions: he wants to keep the Egyptian off the scoresheet, even if it means a post-match apology.
Kelleher, speaking to The Athletic, said he hopes he will be “apologising to him” afterwards, with Brentford pushing hard for European qualification and in no mood to play a supporting role in Liverpool’s goodbye narrative.
The Republic of Ireland international left Anfield last summer in search of regular minutes, but he still leans on the education he received in those sessions against Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
“If you’re making saves off them, that gives you confidence,” he explained. “They were the best in the league. Just to see how they finished and the pace they finish at… you have to get used to it.”
Liverpool’s future will be built without Salah and without Guehi and Semenyo. The question now is whether those gaps become footnotes in a successful new era under Slot, or the sliding doors moments that continue to haunt Anfield.
