A significant increase in wages paid in the 2023/24 tax year is now explained, partly due to the big-money payouts given to Jurgen Klopp and his staff.
Liverpool announced their financial results for the 2023/24 season on Friday with a £57 million pre-tax loss after a campaign out of the Champions League.
The club’s media revenue dropped by £38 million as the Reds played out a season in the Europa League, but wages paid increased from the previous year by £13 million.
That led to confusion during early projections in January, particularly as a number of high earners left the club in the summer of 2023, including captain Jordan Henderson, Roberto Firmino, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Naby Keita.
Liverpool only signed four first-team players in Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo, though Kostas Tsimikas was among those to sign a new contract and Alisson‘s pay increased due to a clause in his deal.
The sizeable increase has now been explained by The Athletic‘s James Pearce, with the majority of that £13 million paid out to Klopp and his backroom staff upon their exit.
Klopp, Pepijn Lijnders, Vitor Matos, John Achterberg, Andreas Kornmayer, Andreas Schlumberger and Jack Robinson were among those to leave and those who still had time left on their contracts received a combined £9.6 million.
Furthermore, bonuses were paid to players for their performance in the Champions League in 2022/23, having reached the last 16 of the tournament, with those included in the 2023/24 results.
That could feasibly have included a major increase in the performance bonuses for Mohamed Salah, who agreed a new contract in July 2022.
Liverpool’s financial results for the campaign just gone go some way to explain the balance required in ongoing talks over extensions for Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
• READ: Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk contracts: What industry sources expect
Chief financial officer Jenny Beacham explained that “operating a financially sustainable club continues to be our priority” and that they would do so “in accordance with football’s financial rules and regulations.”
Beacham added that this would come while “maintaining investment opportunities in our operations, infrastructure and players.”
The announcement of Liverpool’s financial results, including the payout to Klopp and his staff, comes on the release of a new documentary charting the German’s reign at the club.
In review, This Is Anfield‘s Sam Millne writes: “What was originally supposed to be a series taking us behind-the-scenes of a fairytale ending became a retrospective on the era as a whole.
“We still get an insight into the real lives of some of the players, but this was mostly confined to the interview chair.
“While ‘Doubters to Believers Liverpool FC: Klopp’s Era’ didn’t quite turn out to be the detailed look behind the curtain we hoped, it is still well worth a watch for supporters.”
• Doubters to Believers Liverpool FC: Klopp’s Era is available on Amazon Prime now.
