Liverpool have spent more than £100m three separate times in two summers, on Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Bradley Barcola. That is the version of the club most people see. The quieter version has made over £230m since 2020 from selling players who came through its own youth teams, and that money is what keeps Fenway Sports Group's self-financing model standing up.
The problem with selling academy players is that eventually you run out. A lot of young talent left last summer. Somebody has to replace it, and the route Liverpool used to take is now partly closed.
Why Brexit changed the shopping list
Fifa allows international transfers only for players over 18, and since Brexit, Premier League clubs can no longer sign under-18s from European countries. The practical effect is that English teenagers became scarce and therefore expensive.
"There's now a premium on young English players," Liverpool's academy director Alex Inglethorpe told BBC Sport. "Time will tell if that premium is worthwhile but it's definitely a change." His description of the process is unglamorous and probably accurate: look around Merseyside first, go national at 14, then go global.
The global part is run by Matt Newberry, who has led Liverpool's global talent department since the winter of 2024, with regional scouts feeding it. New sporting director Julian Ward's contact book helps. Inglethorpe's line on intent is worth quoting straight: "Any player we sign, the first intention is that we want them to play in the first team and there's a belief that there's a chance for everyone that signs here."
The Senegalese centre-half
Mor Talla Ndiaye grew up playing in the streets of Sandiara, a village in Senegal. He went through Bousports Academy in Thiadiaye, then Amitie Football Club in Thiès. Liverpool's scouts watched him at the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar last winter, opened talks with his academy and his agency, and set up video calls before flying out.
Once in Senegal they went to where he trained, met the people who had coached him, and sat down with his family. In January, Liverpool beat off other European clubs and paid around £1m plus add-ons for him. He is a left-footed centre-back, he played pre-season under Andoni Iraola, and he was an unused substitute three times in the second half of last season.
Rob Page, who runs Liverpool's under-21s, was direct about where the boy is. "He's an incredible story, isn't he? From where he's come from to where he is - and he's such a humble kid." Then the qualifier: "He's nowhere near the finished article but he's on the right path."
Ndiaye lives with a host family used to working with the club. Inglethorpe talks about the practical side of that arrangement, which nobody puts in a press release: helping a teenager with English, with unfamiliar food, with weather, with pitches that behave differently from the ones he grew up on. "The most important thing you can give a young player is the time."
Ndukwe, Martinez, and the ones that got away
Ndiaye is not alone. After the same Under-17 World Cup, Liverpool paid £2.6m for Ifeanyi Ndukwe, another centre-back. The 18-year-old Austrian impressed in pre-season and is on loan at Levante in La Liga while he works towards a UK work permit. Samuel Martinez, a 17-year-old Colombian midfielder, arrives next summer; his father says there were thirty offers. Lucca Brughmans, an 18-year-old Belgian goalkeeper, and Djylian N'Guessan, an 18-year-old French forward, both join permanently in 2027.
It does not always land. Arsenal beat Liverpool to Andria Bartishvili last month, and the 17-year-old Georgian goes to north London next summer when he turns 18.
There are very few genuinely hidden players left in world football, and Liverpool know it. What they are selling instead is the pathway, and the argument that a kid from Sandiara has a real chance of playing at Anfield rather than a chance of being warehoused. Ndiaye chose them because their offer of that pathway was the clearest. Whether it turns out to be true is a question for about 2029.
Transfer context: Mor Talla Ndiaye, 18, left-footed centre-back from Sandiara, Senegal, signed January 2026 for around £1m plus add-ons. Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 18, Austrian centre-back, £2.6m, currently on loan at Levante. Samuel Martinez, 17, Colombian midfielder, joins next summer. Lucca Brughmans, 18, Belgian goalkeeper, and Djylian N'Guessan, 18, French forward, both join permanently in 2027. Liverpool have made over £230m since 2020 selling players who represented them at youth level.
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