2009/10 to 2017/18

Liverpool played all nine seasons from 2009/10 to 2017/18 in the Premier League. Their best finish was 2nd, in 2013/14. They won one major trophy: the League Cup. Over those nine summers they paid £506.9m in transfer fees and took in £354.4m, a net spend of £152.4m. In 115.football they get City’s £900m instead.

For Liverpool this was a decade spent chasing a title that would not come. Seventh in 2009/10, then sixth, eighth and seventh, with only the 2011/12 League Cup as reward. Then came 2013/14: 84 points and second place, two behind champions Manchester City. It was as close as they got.

The sales hurt. Xabi Alonso left for Real Madrid in 2009, Javier Mascherano for Barcelona in 2010, Luis Suárez for Barcelona for £75m after that 2013/14 season and Raheem Sterling for Manchester City in 2015. By 2017/18, though, the rebuild had taken shape: Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah together, fourth again, and a Champions League final.

With City's £900m and hindsight, 2013/14 is the season to fix. Keep Suárez and Sterling, add the defensive steel that side lacked, and Anfield does not have to wait any longer.