Julian Ward is back in line for a key Liverpool role, with The Athletic reporting that he is expected to return as sporting director. Ward previously held that job for the 2022-23 season before leaving the club, and after coming back as technical director in 2024, he is now set to oversee recruitment once more.<\/p>\n
That earlier period produced seven signings, and their impact varied dramatically. Some deals brought promise, others profit, and a few were undermined by injuries or inconsistency. Here is a fresh look at how those additions shaped up.<\/p>\n
At the bottom sits Arthur Melo. The midfielder managed only one senior appearance, a 13-minute outing in a 4-1 defeat to Napoli. An injury picked up in training required surgery and ended his season. Signed on loan from Juventus to address midfield shortages, the move quickly became a costly setback.<\/p>\n
Calvin Ramsay also struggled to establish himself. Liverpool paid $5.5 million for the right back after his promise at Aberdeen, but he made only two senior appearances. Knee surgery in February 2023 kept him out for 264 days, and loan spells at Preston North End, Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic and Kilmarnock failed to reignite his momentum. He is currently at St. Mirren and looks set to leave when his contract expires next year.<\/p>\n
F\u00e1bio Carvalho offered some return, though not enough to convince Liverpool he had a long-term future there. After a January move from Fulham collapsed, he signed in the summer of 2023. He was used early under J\u00fcrgen Klopp but later faded, finishing with just two Premier League appearances after Christmas in 2022-23. A difficult loan at RB Leipzig was followed by a stronger spell at Hull City, yet Liverpool sold him to Brentford for $25.5 million in 2024.<\/p>\n
Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez brought goals, chaos and frustration in equal measure. Signed for an initial $78.6 million, he produced 31 goal contributions in Klopp\u2019s final season, but missed chances and disciplinary lapses repeatedly undercut his case. He has since moved to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Cody Gakpo remains more divisive than definitive. Signed for $45 million, he has delivered both dry spells and productive stretches, including 18 goals in all competitions in 2024-25. Last season brought only nine goals in 52 games, but his record suggests there is still time to improve his standing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Julian Ward is expected back at Liverpool, and his first seven signings tell a mixed story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1162,180,182],"class_list":["post-20288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","tag-analytics","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}