Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Liverpool FC have won the Premier League for a second time under American ownership, breaking Manchester City’s grip on the English title with a dominant campaign under new manager Arne Slot.
The club’s 20th league title was confirmed after a comprehensive 5-1 win against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, equalling a record set by arch-rivals Manchester United. The club’s haul of 82 points from 34 games has put them out of reach of their closest rival, Arsenal, with four games of the season still left to play.
The league triumph is Liverpool’s second since the club was bought by US billionaire John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group in a £300mn deal in 2010. In that time, the club has also won the Champions League, Fifa Club World Cup, the FA Cup and three league cups.
There are signs that FSG’s vision of a virtuous circle — where success on the pitch powers commercial revenues, which can then be reinvested into the playing squad and the youth academy — is becoming a reality.
Liverpool won the title despite spending less than any other Premier League club across the summer and winter transfer windows, according to Transfermarkt data.
Its use of sophisticated data analysis techniques to identify undervalued players — such as midfielder Ryan Gravenberch and defender Ibrahima Konaté, each signed for €40mn — means they have spent less on transfers than all their major rivals since their last title win, in 2020.
Like Liverpool’s last league triumph, this victory owed much to the contributions of Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah and centre back Virgil van Dijk, the club captain. The experienced duo, who have both recently signed contract extensions, have played almost every minute of league football this season.
Salah has more goals and assists than any other player, while van Dijk has been at the heart of a defence that has conceded only 32 goals so far this season. By contrast, Liverpool’s rivals have relied more heavily on the contributions of less experienced players.
However, keeping a successful group of players together has required Liverpool to extend contracts and increase player wages. The result is that its wage bill is now the second highest in the league.
That puts the onus on Liverpool’s commercial department to increase revenues. Ben Latty, the club’s chief commercial officer, told the Financial Times that his department’s role was to generate income to “sustainably finance the pursuit of trophies.
“We’re already looking to the future and working out how we can best maximise this success [winning the Premier League] to continue our commercial growth and support further on-pitch success,” he added.
Commercial revenues, increasingly important at a time of slowing media rights growth, surpassed £300mn for the first time last year. They are expected to rise again next season after Liverpool switched kit supplier from Nike to Adidas.
The club’s commercial partners include insurer AXA, phonemaker Google Pixel and beer brand Carlsberg. This summer, players and staff will fly to Japan and Hong Kong with the club’s official airline partner Japan Airlines for the club’s pre-season tour.
But Liverpool’s season has not been a total success. They lost to minnows Plymouth Argyle in the fourth round of the FA Cup and their hopes of a seventh Champions League trophy ended with defeat to Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16.
Analyst Kieron O’Connor, who writes the SwissRamble football finance blog, estimates Liverpool’s revenue for the 2024-25 financial year is likely to surpass £700mn, on account of its participation in this season’s Champions League. Liverpool failed to qualify for the 2023-24 Champions League.
Ian Graham, Liverpool’s head of research until 2023, says that tying van Dijk and Salah down to new contracts has bought Liverpool time to fine tune their squad.
“They’ve given themselves breathing space to find world class replacements over the next two to three years,” he said.
