Liverpool's Next £100m Signing: Who Will It Be?
The £100m footballer used to be a unicorn. Now it’s just a line item.
Once upon a time, that fee was reserved for the absolute elite, the players who defined eras. Now, if you’re simply very good, you’re flirting with nine figures. Liverpool have already joined that world. Twice. In one window.
Last summer they pushed their limits for Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak. Two huge talents, two huge cheques. The verdict? Still pending.
A full season on, neither has truly lived up to the size of the fee or the weight of the expectation. There have been flashes, moments that hint at what they might become, but not yet the sustained dominance that justifies a £100m billing.
Liverpool knew this was a long game. Both players signed six-year deals, a clear statement that they’re being built into the spine of the next great side, not just the current one. Under Andoni Iraola, there is a belief he can unlock something that Arne Slot never quite managed. That this is where Wirtz and Isak turn from expensive promises into actual pillars.
They’ll have to. That’s why they were bought.
But Liverpool are also going to have to get used to something else: this is the going rate now. The market has gone wild and stayed there.
Elliot Anderson moving for £120m is the latest example of how detached fees have become from any traditional sense of value. “Ridiculous” barely covers it, yet this is the landscape Liverpool must navigate if they want to keep pace at the top.
This summer, they’re already staring at another nine-figure outlay. To land Bradley Barcola, they will likely have to cross that £100m threshold again. Another mega signing, another player instantly judged through the prism of his price tag.
And once Barcola walks through the door, the obvious question follows: who’s next?
The short-term plan is clear enough. Reinforce the attack now: Barcola on one side, and ideally another winger who can operate from the right. Once that’s done, the spotlight inevitably swings back towards midfield.
- Trey Nyoni is earmarked as one for the future.
- Dominik Szoboszlai has committed his long-term future to the club and is widely tipped to wear the armband next summer.
- Ryan Gravenberch is tied down on a lengthy deal as well.
But Curtis Jones has already gone. Alexis Mac Allister’s future is uncertain. The numbers in midfield will need replenishing, but more than that, the profile will need refining.
Liverpool will have to go back into that market and spend big again in the middle of the pitch.
For many, Adam Wharton has looked like the obvious answer. Young, composed, technically gifted, and already being spoken about in £100m terms. On paper, he fits the bill as Liverpool’s next blockbuster midfield signing.
Then came the Premier League’s opening weekend. And with it, a performance that may have shifted the conversation.
At Brentford, against Tottenham, Mamadou Sangare walked onto the pitch and announced himself to England.
The Malian midfielder had already built a reputation in Ligue 1 as a relentless, all-action presence, the kind of player analysts rave about long before the wider public catches on. Against Spurs, he showed exactly why.
He ran the game.
Sangare dictated the tempo in the middle third, snapped into duels, and then had the composure to influence the attacking end of the pitch. He slipped in the assist for Brentford’s opener, then unleashed the shot that led to their third on the rebound. Not just busy. Decisive.
Everywhere you looked, there he was: covering ground, shutting down counters, then bursting forward to support attacks. The energy, the athleticism, the ability to operate at full throttle without losing clarity — it all screamed one thing.
Iraola player.
Liverpool’s new manager wants intensity, aggression, and midfielders who can live in chaos and still think clearly. Sangare looked built for that. His performance didn’t just impress; it felt like a direct audition for the kind of role Liverpool will soon need to fill at the very top end of the market.
When you watch him through that lens, the picture sharpens. This is why the idea of him becoming Liverpool’s next £100m signing suddenly doesn’t feel far-fetched at all. It feels almost inevitable.
If he keeps performing like that, if he sustains this level across a Premier League season, the price will take care of itself. So will the suitors.
Liverpool have already stepped into the £100m era. Wirtz. Isak. Soon, probably, Barcola.
And after that?
If Brentford’s opener against Tottenham is anything to go by, the answer might already be here, tearing around Premier League midfields in Brentford colours, waiting for the next giant to make their move.
Next summer, just wait.
