Club have reached a point where “massive global stars” need to come and play at Anfield, says Billy Hogan
Liverpool chief executive Billy Hogan has said the club’s transfer strategy “hasn’t changed” despite their massive outlay in the market.
The aggressive transfer activity this summer is part of their long-term planning, with the club occasionally ready to raise spending to match their status as one of the biggest teams in world football, Hogan said.
Speaking to The Athletic after the club signed Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt for a fee that could rise to £79m, Hogan dismissed the idea that Liverpool had suddenly abandoned their financial principles.
“It doesn’t just happen; it’s been years in the making,” said Hogan. “One of the things we’re constantly focused on is that ‘virtuous circle’, trying to run the club in the right way to ensure that we can generate as much revenue as we possibly can.
“That obviously helps in terms of being able to put more back into the team, which is incredibly important from our perspective.”
Liverpool’s transfer spend this summer has nearly reached £300m. That is in stark contrast to their usual conservative approach. Departures have generated just over £60m, leaving the net spend at its highest in the FSG era.
Still, Hogan insists the club remain committed to responsible financial management.
“The difficulty is if you just look at one individual summer,” said Hogan. “That probably skews the data. There were a lot of comments made last summer that we didn’t spend enough.
“What history has shown during FSG’s stewardship of this club is that we will invest when we think it is reasonable and when we think it’s right. The strategy hasn’t changed.”
However, Hogan admits that the club have reached a point where they feel the need to make Anfield a choice destination for some of the world’s best footballing stars.
Hogan said: “We recognise, having won the English league title for the 20th time, that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We want to make sure that we are behaving like one.
“Having massive global stars come and play at Anfield, filling out stadiums in Hong Kong and Japan, those are things we expect and want to do.
“We have a huge fanbase around the world who crave success and we’re working as hard as we can to win more trophies.”
