Liverpool could potentially look to offload as many as four players, including Florian Wirtz, according to a bold claim from former scout Bryan King.
Plenty of current Reds players have come under scrutiny for their performances over the past 12 months, with Gary Neville among those vocal about Wirtz’s lack of impact after a £116m move in 2025:
“He needs to sort himself out. Enough’s enough now, we’ve talked about him enough. He’s young and he’s come to a different country – and I’m all for willing him on.
“I can see a real player there, but I can’t keep watching this stuff and he’s been subbed after an hour and they need a goal, but they’re 2-1 down, so that’s not right. I don’t see the tenacity in Wirtz, in particular. I see a nice player moving around the pitch not really ever looking like he is busting a gut to do anything.”
Speaking to Football Insider, King said that Wirtz is one of those who Liverpool may look to cash in on in the near future, as well as Cody Gakpo, Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong:
“I look at [Florian] Wirtz and I think whether he’s the player that the manager inherited, whether he could be moved on and a new player brought in.
“I look at [Cody] Gakpo, who has been talked of leaving and leaving and leaving. I look at the defenders [Joe] Gomez, [Jeremie] Frimpong. “These are players I would imagine the new manager might be looking at to replace with players that he wants to bring in himself.
“Gomez promised an awful lot, but I don’t think he’s going to be getting a chance, to be honest, not looking at what he brought in there. So those two and the ones who could raise decent money would be Gapko or Wirtz. That’s for sure.”
Should Liverpool sell all 4 players in 2027?
This is certainly a big claim from King, not least regarding Wirtz, with Spain manager Luis de la Fuente having this to say about him earlier this week:
“Florian Wirtz, he is fantastic. Unfortunately he does not have a Spanish passport (laughs). I like the way he plays.”
Wirtz needs to do more if he’s going to live up to the hype at Liverpool, but selling him this soon would be a huge mistake, with the German flourishing if the wingers begin to thrive, and if the midfield has more balance behind him.
As for Gakpo, he has been excellent since failing to earn a move to Manchester City in the summer, and the Reds should only sanction a move if he wants to leave at the end of the season.
Gomez and Frimpong feel more expendable, though, with the former simply too injury-prone to be an important figure now, and his contract ending once the current campaign concludes.
Frimpong has been a big disappointment since his move from Bayer Leverkusen last year, losing his place at right-back to Ronald Araujo, and he doesn’t feel like a part of Andoni Iraola’s plans.
