Lorenzo gives the world number 44 Spaniard no chance: 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 in one hour and 37 minutes. Now he awaits the winner of Sinner-Bublik
Liverpool, €511 million on the market! Here’s why they were able to spend so much
Isak and Wirtz alone cost €280 million. Thanks to healthy finances and top revenues, the Reds are building for the present and the future
How do you become the richest transfer market in history, the first time ever that a single team has spent over half a billion euros in a single session? Take a well-managed team, one that has had its accounts in order for years and a huge margin on the Premier League’s strict financial fair play rules, add to that the desire to revamp a team that has just won the championship, to get it ready to start a new cycle, the huge Champions League bonuses and a new lucrative contract with the technical sponsor. Add to that the charm of Anfield and one of the most supported clubs in the world. And so Liverpool’s sensational transfer market in the summer of 2025 takes shape: a market worth €511 million, twice breaking the Premier League record for the most expensive deal. Something historic.
The watchword for the Reds this summer was renewal. The idea, after many years of prudent investment in the transfer market (the only signing in 2024 was Federico Chiesa, bought at a bargain price from Juventus), was to make the team more in the image and likeness of Arne Slot, with signings that would make it stronger in the immediate term than the team that dominated the Premier League last year, but also ready to start a new cycle. The result was historic. The highlights are obviously the two most expensive signings in Premier League history, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz. The first was the German, signed from Bayer Leverkusen for €136 million including bonuses. Isak was the deal that kicked off the last day of the transfer window, the conclusion of a soap opera between the striker and Newcastle, who finally agreed to let him go: not for the €173 million that the Magpies had long insisted on, but for €144 million, up front and with no clauses. There is no doubt that Isak is the most expensive signing in Premier League history.
REVOLUTION— Isak and Wirtz are the tip of the iceberg, with Hugo Ekitike, signed from Frankfurt for €91 million, never getting the spotlight he deserved. In between, there are investments in young players, regardless of the cost: Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth for €46.5 million and Jeremie Frimpong from Leverkusen for €35 million are the two new wingers, who are expected to make an immediate impact. The €30 million paid to Parma for 18-year-old Giovanni Leoni is an investment for the future, for what the Reds hope will soon become the new Virgil Van Dijk. Giorgi Mamardashvili, signed from Valencia for €28 million, is also looking to the future, with an eye on the present: for now, he is Alisson’s backup, but the Brazilian has always given his deputies a chance to play, and the Georgian is destined to take his place. Together, they make up eight signings, worth over half a billion euros. And Marc Guehi’s move from Crystal Palace fell through at the last minute.
ACCOUNTS— Liverpool also collected €239.2 million from transfers, to which will be added the €40 million of the mandatory buy-back clause already set by Aston Villa for Harvey Elliott. However, it is not because of how they sold that the Reds were able to afford this record transfer market. Nor was it because, under financial fair play rules, the cost of the transfer fee is spread over the years of the players’ contracts: in the case of Isak, who signed until 2031, the €144 million spent actually weighs on the balance sheet at €24 million per year. The secret lies in the $296 million earned last year in bonuses for winning the Premier League and the Champions League, the $70 million per year that Adidas has been paying into the club’s coffers since August 1, the $6 million that Anfield brings in for every sold-out game, and the more than $250 million in TV rights, and the profits that, thanks in part to merchandising (this is what it really means to be one of the most supported clubs in the world), far exceed €100 million. Only then can you really afford a half-billion-euro transfer market without strangling the club’s coffers. And Liverpool decided that this was the right time to spend.
No Broadway, Lorenzo Musetti’s show is staged at Flushing Meadows, Queens. The Italian number 2 overwhelms Jaume Munar, the 28-year-old Spaniard who trains at the Nadal Academy, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3, and reaches the quarterfinals in New York for the first time. Not only that, he joins Matteo Berrettini and Jannik Sinner in the club of Italian players capable of reaching this level in the Slams on three different surfaces. On paper, Munar, despite having slipped into the Top 50, could have been a source of trouble for Lorenzo. The last time they met on hard court, at the Hong Kong tournament earlier this year, Musetti lost to the Majorcan, falling behind 2-1 in their previous encounters.
Munar, nicknamed Jimbo (like Connors) for his provocative character, didn’t even have time to think. Lorenzo dictated the game from the first to the last point, with power and variety, supported by his serve and his box, which cheered him on throughout the match with cries of “Bravo Lore” and “Bellissimo Lore.” Tartarini has been coaching him since he was nine years old, and his partner Veronica, who is pregnant but never misses a match, is also there. Musetti’s strength also lies here, in his magic circle, which is accompanying him in the delicate transition from boy to man, father and mature player. “Lorenzo needs to realize how strong he is,” said his longtime friend Flavio Cobolli after losing to him in the third round.
head— Who knows, perhaps this awareness will help him improve even further in New York, where he was a junior finalist before going on to win the Australian Open. On the way, he could face an insurmountable obstacle in Jannik Sinner, in a dream derby never before seen at this level in America. The match itself has little to say, it was a showdown between the Carrarino and the Spaniard, who was perhaps feeling under the weather as he was coughing frequently. The first two sets were uneventful: the result was decided early in the first set with Munar messing up his forehand and going down 15-30, then with a double fault he gave two break points to the Italian (15-40), who immediately scored. From that moment on, Lorenzo continued to climb, confusing the Spaniard by hiding the ball like a magician, confirming the break 3-1 and closing with a second break for 6-2. In the second set, Munar had no weapon to counter Lorenzo, who played as he pleased. He changed the rhythm, the pace, the angles. As if in a blender, the 28-year-old Spaniard fails to hold a single service game and Musetti sits down with a round 6-0. The third set opens with a small lapse by the Tuscan, who in the third game commits two forehand errors, 0-30, commits a double fault and concedes three break points to Munar. He manages to neutralize them all, and a fourth comes, but again the first saves him. He holds serve, shouts “Bravo!” and nods his head, as if to say that in addition to his magic touch, he now also has the ability to stay focused without getting caught up in the frenzy. He immediately breaks Munar’s serve to go up 3-1 and then falters a little in the fifth game, where he goes to deuce before extending his lead to 5-1 with another break and closing out the set 6-1. Now all that remains is to dream of an all-Italian derby, as Musetti will face the winner of Sinner-Bublik.
