Jamie Carragher Shares his Thoughts on Liverpool's Summer Transfer Plans
Liverpool are not simply basking in the glory of a title-winning campaign under Arne Slot, they are already looking ahead. With the Dutchman delivering the Premier League in his first season, expectations have shifted from cautious optimism to sustained dominance.
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This new era at Anfield has made one thing clear — there's no time for sentimentality. Even with a historic campaign fresh in memory, Liverpool know they must evolve. And that evolution, as Jamie Carragher suggests, could come with a few shocks along the way.
Carragher Warns of Surprise Exits in the Transfer Window
Jamie Carragher, who needs no introduction in red circles, believes that Liverpool may yet spring a surprise or two in the transfer market. Speaking on The Overlap's Fan Debate, the former defender speculated that unexpected departures could be part of the club's summer strategy.
'But in terms of those getting linked, I'm like, no, you wouldn't want to sell those, but they're probably thinking, but if someone offers enough money, oh, we will do it,' Carragher remarked.
Photo: IMAGO
It's not just about trimming the edges — it's about difficult decisions that keep the squad lean and competitive. Despite winning the league, Liverpool fell short in the Champions League, losing to Paris Saint-Germain. That shortfall serves as a reminder that success in one competition doesn't guarantee supremacy elsewhere. Slot, therefore, will need a squad built not just for English battles but for Europe's elite stage too.
Players Facing Uncertain Futures Under Slot
There are already signs of a changing hierarchy under Arne Slot. Players who were once seen as central under Jurgen Klopp now find themselves on the fringes.
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Harvey Elliott is a prime example. Once a favourite of Klopp, Elliott has found minutes harder to come by under Slot, who appears to favour Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai in midfield. The 21-year-old's cryptic message following Liverpool's 3-2 defeat to Brighton only added fuel to speculation about his future.
Then there's Jarell Quansah. The young defender made 25 appearances this season but started just 13 matches. With interest from Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund, his situation is one to watch closely.
Photo: IMAGO
Even Joe Gomez has been preferred at centre-back when Ibrahima Konaté or Virgil van Dijk were unavailable, leaving Quansah in a supporting role.
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Luis Díaz, who has been one of Liverpool's top scorers this season, is another name persistently linked with a move. Although he's stopped short of confirming anything, recent social media activity has resembled a farewell — or at least a pause for thought.
Building for the Future: Incomings and Outgoings
There's no suggestion that Liverpool are in panic mode. Quite the opposite — this is about calculated risk and long-term planning.
Reports suggest that the club are closing in on deals for Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez. The former could bring creativity and dynamism in midfield, while the latter would strengthen the left side of defence. However, both would command significant fees, meaning departures are inevitable.
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Carragher put it aptly: 'I think the club will be like that now in terms of, they wouldn't allow, cause Arne Slot's the head coach, the first head coach in Liverpool's history.
'They're never gonna allow, even though he's won the league in his first season, I don't think they're gonna allow what happened with Jürgen Klopp, where it became, he was making these bigger decisions and he's a god, everyone loves him.'
Slot may have won the league, but Liverpool's structure is changing. There will be no unchecked power, no manager-as-king. Instead, decisions will be more corporate, more collaborative. And that may lead to outcomes fans don't always expect — including the sale of fan favourites.
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New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Florian Wirtz can buck the ‘Havertz trend' and thrive at Liverpool
Without the necessary context, the record-breaking transfer of Florian Wirtz to Liverpool will draw obvious comparisons with a fellow countryman. Certainly, the theme of 'Young German attacker leaves Bayer Leverkusen to join an English club for a vast amount of money' gives off strong vibes of Kai Havertz's move to Chelsea in 2020. Advertisement Back then, Havertz was the best young talent in Germany and attracting interest from every major club across Europe. Bayern Munich went to great lengths to explain to the player where he would fit into their team but never made an official bid, largely because of Leverkusen's asking price. Real Madrid also had reservations due to financial difficulties on the back of the pandemic, so Chelsea, who were recruiting from a position of strength after a transfer ban, jumped in and agreed to a £71million ($91.3m at current exchange rates) record-breaking move. Sound familiar? Well, with Wirtz, the move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League is a little more nuanced. Manchester City were interested, but the 22-year-old quickly fell in love with Liverpool. When Bayern, who had tracked him extensively for years, realised they would be fighting a losing battle, they backed off. Real Madrid didn't bother, either, as new manager Xabi Alonso, who coached Wirtz at Leverkusen, knew where his heart lay. Some of the basics around the two deals are the same, albeit for different reasons. Liverpool's inactivity in previous windows has allowed for such a huge outlay on one star player; again, the gem of German football is moving to England as the most expensive outgoing ever (for a German) and, just like Havertz to Chelsea, Wirtz to Liverpool is also a record-breaking deal for an outfield player. If the add-ons in the £116m transfer are achieved, Wirtz will be the biggest sale from a Bundesliga club and the record sum spent by a Premier League club on one player. Those are obvious similarities, but Liverpool will hope they do not extend any further. Other than scoring the winning goal in the 2021 Champions League final against Manchester City, Havertz's time at Chelsea was not a success. Havertz, known for his elegance, technical qualities and, more recently, physicality, is a different player from Wirtz, who is more of a dynamic dribbler. He will also be fitting into a very different setup at Anfield on the back of a title win. Advertisement Havertz is not the only much-vaunted German talent to arrive in the Premier League and struggle to live up to expectations. Timo Werner also struggled at Chelsea and Leroy Sane's performances at Manchester City became increasingly inconsistent before he left in 2020. Further down the food chain, Max Meyer — once hailed as the future heart of Germany's midfield — sunk without trace after joining Crystal Palace as a 22-year-old in 2018 and is now playing in the Cypriot league for APOEL. Will Wirtz buck that trend? Those who have watched him regularly have no doubts. 'One of the reasons I'm convinced he will be a success at Liverpool is that he can look after himself,' says former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann, who made the move from Germany to England in 1998 when he left Bayern to join Newcastle United. 'He's like a street kid. He won't shirk a challenge. He will be one of the main players at Liverpool next season. He won't be worried or afraid about the physical side of the Premier League.' There is, of course, no shortage of German players who have come to England and flourished. Jurgen Klinsmann (Tottenham Hotspur), Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Pascal Gross (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Per Mertesacker (Arsenal) became mainstays of their clubs, helping erase the memory of others who were not always successful, including Lukas Podolski and, in the second half of his Arsenal career at least, Mesut Ozil. There are more question marks over up-and-coming German imports — as there tends to be with any up-and-coming footballer — but Wirtz is already operating at a higher level than most of his contemporaries by age. It means the argument that he can achieve everything that is already expected of him at Anfield is compelling. Liverpool see Wirtz as a versatile and seasoned attacking asset. He has won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double with Leverkusen and experienced Champions League and international football. There is also potential to grow in value and Liverpool have shown in the past that when they believe a player can be genuinely transformational to the team, they invest big money. Now they hope Wirtz will be more like the success stories of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk, rather than Darwin Nunez, now sadly regarded as an expensive error. Advertisement 'He's exceptional, the best player we've got in Germany,' adds Hamann, a Champions League winner at Liverpool in 2005. 'He's not cheap, but he's a player who makes other players around him better. I don't have any worries at all about him, partly because he's already been part of a team which has won big titles. What was different with Havertz, Sane and Werner was the (performance at the time of the) clubs they moved from.' When Sane moved from Schalke to Manchester City for £37m and was crowned the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2018 after his second season, he appeared to be on the verge of great things. Yet he surprisingly missed out on Germany's 2018 World Cup squad, starting a downward spiral he has not arrested. It wasn't as if his time at the Etihad was a failure. He scored 39 goals in 135 appearances and won the Premier League twice, but by the time he left for Bayern Munich in 2020, Pep Guardiola had decided he was no longer a key component in his side. Werner, a target for Liverpool before he moved to Chelsea in 2020, also struggled in the Premier League due to what former Arsenal and Barcelona forward Thierry Henry described to CBS as a 'lack of confidence'. Werner scored 23 goals in 89 appearances across two seasons at Chelsea following a £50m move from RB Leipzig, but returned two years later for almost half the amount they paid for him. 'It didn't happen for him in England because he just wasn't good enough,' Hamann says. 'We've seen that in the last few years.' Havertz, who is now at Arsenal, has well-established 'all-rounder' capabilities, but has also endured long periods of frustration at both clubs. 'He's done better than people give him credit for,' Hamann adds. 'He's gifted and he's done a decent job in a position he didn't really want to play and could still win big trophies at Arsenal. But he moved from a Leverkusen side who hadn't won anything and he wasn't dealing with big pressure (at Chelsea). 'Wirtz doesn't lack confidence or grit. He's a tough kid. It's also easier when you're joining a team that dominates possession, like Liverpool will do. I've got no doubts that he will be a success.' (Top photos: Kai Havertz, left, and Florian Wirtz; Getty Images)
5 hours ago
Day camp, summer school and after-school programs in limbo during Trump administration review
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Without the money, schools say they won't be able to provide free or affordable after-school care for low-income kids while their parents work, and they may not be able to hire staff to teach children who are learning English. Even classes or camps underway this summer could be in jeopardy. For instance, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America depend on some of the withheld money to run camps and other summer programming for low-income students. If funding isn't restored soon, the programming may end mid-season, said Boys and Girls Club President Jim Clark. After-school programming in the fall could also take a hit. 'If these funds are blocked, the fallout will be swift and devastating,' Clark said. As many as 926 Boys and Girls Clubs could close, affecting more than 220,000 kids, the group said. Programs that rely on the money were expecting it to be distributed July 1, but an Education Department notice issued Monday announced the money would not be released while the programs are under review. The department did not provide a timeline and warned that 'decisions have not yet been made' on grants for the upcoming school year. 'The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President's priorities and the Department's statutory responsibilities,' Education Department officials wrote in the notice, which was obtained by The Associated Press. The department referred questions to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not respond to a request for comment. In Gadsden City Schools in Alabama, officials say they'll have no choice but to shutter their after-school program serving more than 1,200 low-income students if federal funds aren't released. There's no other way to make up for the frozen federal money, said Janie Browning, who directs the program. Families who rely on after-school programs would lose an important source of child care that keeps children safe and engaged while their parents work. The roughly 75 employees of the district's after-school programs may lose their jobs. 'Those hours between after school and 6 o'clock really are the hours in the day when students are at the most risk for things that may not produce great outcomes,' Browning said. 'It would be devastating if we lost the lifeline of afterschool for our students and our families.' Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, said withholding the money could cause lasting damage to the economy. Some advocates fear the grants are being targeted for elimination, which could force schools to cut programs and teachers. Trump's 2026 budget proposal called for Congress to zero out all of the programs under review, signaling the administration sees them as unnecessary. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pressed the administration to spend the money as Congress intended. 'Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they'll have to cut back on afterschool programs or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed,' Murray said in a statement. The six grant programs under review include one known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers. It's the primary federal funding source for after-school and summer learning programs and supports more than 10,000 local programs nationwide, according to the Afterschool Alliance. Every state runs its own competition to distribute the grants, which totaled $1.3 billion this fiscal year. Also under review are $2 billion in grants for teachers' professional development and efforts to reduce class size; $1 billion for academic enrichment grants, often used for science and math education and accelerated learning; $890 million for students who are learning English; $376 million to educate the children of migrant workers; and $715 million to teach adults how to read. These programs account for over 20% of the federal money the District of Columbia receives for K-12 education, according to an analysis by the Learning Policy Institute, a think tank. California alone has over $800,000 in limbo, while Texas has over $660,000. 'Trump is illegally impounding billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to serve students this fiscal year," said Tony Thurmond, California's state superintendent, in a statement. 'The Administration is punishing children when states refuse to cater to Trump's political ideology. The loss of funds could 'put several more school districts in extreme financial distress,' said Chris Reykdal, superintendent of public instruction in Washington state. Districts have already adopted budgets, planned programming and hired staff, assuming they'd receive the money, Reykdal said. If the funding freeze remains, children learning English and their parents would be especially affected. Some districts use the money to pay for summer programming designed for English learners, family engagement specialists who can communicate with parents and professional development training for staff. Rural districts would be hit the hardest. 'They're trying to send a message,' said Amaya Garcia, who oversees education research at New America, a left-leaning think tank. 'They don't believe that taxpayer funding should be used for these children.' Umatilla School District in rural eastern Oregon — with a sizable population of migrant families and students learning English — relies heavily on federal funding for its after-school and summer school programs. Superintendent Heidi Sipe says she is meeting with state officials soon to find out if the district will have to plan an early end to summer school, an option 20% of students are using. Come this fall, if federal money stays frozen, she'll have to lay off staff and eliminate after-school programs attended by around half the district's students. 'It's an essential service in our community because we don't have any licensed child care centers for school-age children,' she said. Sipe said it's particularly frustrating to deal with these funds being put into limbo because the school district was in the middle of a five-year grant period. 'It feels preventable,' she said, 'and it feels as though we could have done a better job planning for America's children.'
Hamilton Spectator
6 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Day camp, summer school and after-school programs in limbo during Trump administration review
WASHINGTON (AP) — Day camp providers and schools are warning that a Trump administration funding freeze could wreck summer for low-income American families and wipe out some after-school programming next year. The administration is withholding more than $6 billion in federal grants for after-school and summer programs, English language instruction, adult literacy and more as part of a review to ensure grants align with President Donald Trump's priorities . The move leaves states and schools in limbo as they budget for programs this summer and in the upcoming school year, introducing new uncertainty about when — or if — they will receive the money. It also sets the stage for a clash with Democrats, who say the administration is flouting the law by holding back money Congress appropriated. Without the money, schools say they won't be able to provide free or affordable after-school care for low-income kids while their parents work, and they may not be able to hire staff to teach children who are learning English . Even classes or camps underway this summer could be in jeopardy. For instance, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America depend on some of the withheld money to run camps and other summer programming for low-income students. If funding isn't restored soon, the programming may end mid-season, said Boys and Girls Club President Jim Clark. After-school programming in the fall could also take a hit. 'If these funds are blocked, the fallout will be swift and devastating,' Clark said. As many as 926 Boys and Girls Clubs could close, affecting more than 220,000 kids, the group said. Programs that rely on the money were expecting it to be distributed July 1, but an Education Department notice issued Monday announced the money would not be released while the programs are under review. The department did not provide a timeline and warned that 'decisions have not yet been made' on grants for the upcoming school year. 'The Department remains committed to ensuring taxpayer resources are spent in accordance with the President's priorities and the Department's statutory responsibilities,' Education Department officials wrote in the notice, which was obtained by The Associated Press. The department referred questions to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not respond to a request for comment. After-school child care at risk In Gadsden City Schools in Alabama, officials say they'll have no choice but to shutter their after-school program serving more than 1,200 low-income students if federal funds aren't released. There's no other way to make up for the frozen federal money, said Janie Browning, who directs the program. Families who rely on after-school programs would lose an important source of child care that keeps children safe and engaged while their parents work. The roughly 75 employees of the district's after-school programs may lose their jobs. 'Those hours between after school and 6 o'clock really are the hours in the day when students are at the most risk for things that may not produce great outcomes,' Browning said. 'It would be devastating if we lost the lifeline of afterschool for our students and our families.' Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance, said withholding the money could cause lasting damage to the economy. Some advocates fear the grants are being targeted for elimination, which could force schools to cut programs and teachers. Trump's 2026 budget proposal called for Congress to zero out all of the programs under review, signaling the administration sees them as unnecessary. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pressed the administration to spend the money as Congress intended. 'Every day that this funding is held up is a day that school districts are forced to worry about whether they'll have to cut back on afterschool programs or lay off teachers instead of worrying about how to make sure our kids can succeed,' Murray said in a statement. What the money funds The six grant programs under review include one known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers. It's the primary federal funding source for after-school and summer learning programs and supports more than 10,000 local programs nationwide, according to the Afterschool Alliance. Every state runs its own competition to distribute the grants, which totaled $1.3 billion this fiscal year. Also under review are $2 billion in grants for teachers' professional development and efforts to reduce class size ; $1 billion for academic enrichment grants, often used for science and math education and accelerated learning; $890 million for students who are learning English; $376 million to educate the children of migrant workers; and $715 million to teach adults how to read. These programs account for over 20% of the federal money the District of Columbia receives for K-12 education, according to an analysis by the Learning Policy Institute, a think tank. California alone has over $800,000 in limbo, while Texas has over $660,000. 'Trump is illegally impounding billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to serve students this fiscal year,' said Tony Thurmond, California's state superintendent, in a statement. 'The Administration is punishing children when states refuse to cater to Trump's political ideology. The loss of funds could 'put several more school districts in extreme financial distress,' said Chris Reykdal, superintendent of public instruction in Washington state. Districts have already adopted budgets, planned programming and hired staff, assuming they'd receive the money, Reykdal said. If the funding freeze remains, children learning English and their parents would be especially affected. Some districts use the money to pay for summer programming designed for English learners, family engagement specialists who can communicate with parents and professional development training for staff. Rural districts would be hit the hardest. 'They're trying to send a message,' said Amaya Garcia, who oversees education research at New America, a left-leaning think tank. 'They don't believe that taxpayer funding should be used for these children.' Umatilla School District in rural eastern Oregon — with a sizable population of migrant families and students learning English — relies heavily on federal funding for its after-school and summer school programs. Superintendent Heidi Sipe says she is meeting with state officials soon to find out if the district will have to plan an early end to summer school, an option 20% of students are using. Come this fall, if federal money stays frozen, she'll have to lay off staff and eliminate after-school programs attended by around half the district's students. 'It's an essential service in our community because we don't have any licensed child care centers for school-age children,' she said. Sipe said it's particularly frustrating to deal with these funds being put into limbo because the school district was in the middle of a five-year grant period. 'It feels preventable,' she said, 'and it feels as though we could have done a better job planning for America's children.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
