Liverpool have
- Terrible American owners
- A mediocre academy
- A squad where the most important players are over 30
- No structure that seems particularly impressive.
We will see but they have hired a manager who is by a drastic margin less qualified than Ten Hag when he came here and screams "man who doesn't fill the shoes of the man who proceeded him".
They aren't competing for the best players. Their squad is old or unconvincing.
It feels like they are in for a pretty rough time. Club who operated in a mediocre fashion for 25 years until they stumbled into a special manager who has now left them.
Nothing is where guaranteed but I'd personally be happy to take any wagers that they won't get champions league football next year.
I think the jury is still out on FSG and we'll know more about how well they operate Liverpool in the next 1-2 seasons, as they've obviously lost Klopp.
They can also definitely be accused of penny pinching, however they have a bit of a difficult situation as well, as Liverpool are just not as attractive or as rich as 90% of their fanbase believes they are, and that will get even worse post-Klopp.
Slot is a good manager, but the job can still swallow him. Their squad is not title challenger quality, but rather top 5 contender quality.
Agreed on their academy, it isn't really on the level of the best ones in the world. Probably closer to mediocre, like you said.
Salah and van Dijk are getting old, and I bet their motivation is fading as well, having lost Klopp as their manager. Alisson is great and still should have many more years at the top, providing he stays there. Trent too, but I can see him leaving for Madrid soon. I don't think they'll be able to replace these players. Other than them, they have some good-to-great players, but there aren't many that other top PL teams will be jealous over. Bajcetic and Elliott are their two biggest young talents in my opinion.
I think next season they will finish below us and out of the CL places. So 5th or 6th at best, unless they suddenly go on and produce one of the best transfer windows in their history within the next 44 days.
I'm expecting them to just be in and out of the top 4 for the next 3-5 years, much like how we have been for the last 11. Top 4 races, some successful ones, some unsuccessful ones, and no title race.