Liverpool ended a summer of major spending with two Premier League transfer record deals wrapped up by Arne Slot.
On the back of winning the Premier League title in his debut campaign, the Dutch coach has splashed the cash, with major upgrades in his squad.
As Real Madrid focused on their defence, with a move for ex-Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dean Huijsen and Alvaro Carreras, Slot bolstered all areas of his team.
The two rivals did not really come close to a battle over many targets despite lingering interest from Madrid in Alexander Isak.
Liverpool’s £125m deadline day move for the Sweden international set a new Premier League benchmark after the club broke the previous record in June to land Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.
Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong swapped the BayArena for Anfield as a host of Leverkusen stars moved on and Xabi Alonso completed a return to Madrid as Carlo Ancelotti’s successor.
Alonso played a huge part in Wirtz’s development, and the former Spain star was rumoured to be interested in bringing him to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, before Liverpool made their move.
Wirtz rejected an offer from Bayern Munich, to concentrate on talks with Liverpool, but reports from The Times claim interest from Alonso was never formalised.
The main reason for Real Madrid not entering the race centred on Leverkusen’s transfer demands for their former talisman.
Liverpool paid an up front fee of £100m for Wirtz, which the above report states will be paid across five equal payments, to reduce the financial outlay.
What took Wirtz clear as the Premier League signing – prior to the push for Isak – was the agreed add-ons requested by Leverkusen.
However, the full £16m package will only be triggered should Liverpool win the Premier League and/or the Champions League four times during his time at the club.
