Liverpool’s 2024 was clearly divided into two halves.
The former saw Jurgen Klopp’s trophy-laden and transformative spell with the Reds draw to a close. The German last won the adoration of the Anfield crowd in May, with his side running out of steam at the end of the 2023/24 Premier League season.
Klopp’s successor has endured an extremely difficult task, tasked with galvanizing a group mourning the loss of their leader. Arne Slot was the coach identified by Liverpool’s recruitment team as the perfect candidate to rebuild on an incredible foundation.
It turned out to be an inspired decision. The first half of the 2024/25 season. it was truly exceptional for Liverpool, who lost just once under the new Dutch boss last year.
While 2025 promises to be an even more tempting year for Liverpool fans, let’s think back to the best of 2024 for the Reds.
Liverpool have boasted a number of world-leading stars over the past decade, with many of them tall in 2024. Virgil van Dijk enjoyed a bounce-back year, Alisson remains the best goalkeeper on the planet when fit, and Alexis Mac Allister immediately wowed Anfield with a series of star displays.
However, there is no doubt that, once again, Mohamed Salah he was the best player for the Reds last year. The relentless Egyptian has put in incredibly consistent performances for Liverpool and could end the current campaign with a career best if he maintains his incredibly high standards under Sloto in the second half of the season.
His longevity is exceptional and so is his stamina, while he still offers the ferocious pace and dynamic left foot that has regularly seen him top Liverpool’s goalscoring charts.
Many have improved considerably since the arrival of Sloto, but no one is quite as stunned Ryan Gravenberch. The graceful but inconsistent Dutchman traveled to Merseyside at the start of Klopp’s last campaign but has found adapting to the physicality and energy of the Premier League a challenge.
The slot that turned Gravenberch into an excellent defensive midfielder wouldn’t be on many people’s bingo card for 2024, but he is. The 22-year-old has flourished while leading Liverpool’s engine room, answering the club’s obvious need for a new number six.
Loud shouts must be made for Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz as Liverpool’s biggest improvement in 2024, but Gravenberch’s transformation has been too stunning to ignore.
The end of Klopp’s reign was littered with feel-good stories about the prospects of Liverpool’s academy. Injuries have meant that the club’s youngsters have been given plenty of opportunities to shine and most have made positive first impressions on the Anfield faithful.
While Jarell Quansah also shone for Liverpool’s first team, rising from relative anonymity and a short loan spell in League One, it was at right-back Conor Bradley which the fans liked the most in 2024.
After a season-long loan spell at Bolton Wanderers in which he was named the club’s player of the year for 2022/23, the Northern Irishman was immediately given first-team opportunities at Liverpool. Filling Trent Alexander-Arnold’s place is no easy task, but the 21-year-old has done a very impressive job.
More reminiscent of Andy Robertson than Liverpool’s number 66, Bradley has enjoyed a hugely successful year and has now racked up almost 40 appearances and quite a few assists for the Reds.
Surprise, surprise. it is Salah who scored the most goals for Liverpool last year, a regular feat achieved by the 32-year-old.
Salah has scored 29 goals in 44 games for Liverpool in 2024, a tally bettered by only six players in Europe’s top five leagues and only Erling Haaland in the Premier League.
The Reds’ talisman endured a slow finish to his lofty standards last term, but resurged at the start of Slott’s reign. 20 of those 29 strikes have come this term – 17 of which have come in the Premier League.
Liverpool were surprisingly quiet in the transfer market last year. In fact, they made just two senior signings, with only Federico Chiesa, a £12.5m signing from Juventus in the summer, appearing in a red shirt.
Arguably Liverpool’s more exciting signing is yet to play for his new club, with the summer recruit Giorgi Mamardashvili after being sent back on loan to Valencia for the current campaign. The Georgian goalkeeper is one of the leading young stoppers in the game and looks like a natural heir to Alisson’s throne with his excellent reflex saves and impressive distribution.
If Liverpool continue on their current trajectory, there will be plenty of moments competing for the status of the greatest in 2025. However, there is one notable moment from last year.
Liverpool under Klopp won their last piece of silver back in February, winning the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea. Van Dijk’s 118th-minute header secured a famous victory for a young Liverpool side, defeating the £1 billion ‘bottlejobs’.
While Liverpool would have hoped to send Klopp off with more silverware, such a dramatic triumph was a fitting final hurray for the legendary Reds boss.
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