According to a study by CIES Football Observatory, cited here in the Echo, the average age of Liverpool’s transfer signings is amongst the youngest of any club in Europe.
Eighth, in fact.
Since FSG took over in 2010, the average age of players signed by Liverpool has been under the age of 24, 23.75 to be exact.
Star players such as Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson, Nathaniel Clyne, Emre Can and Daniel Sturridge all arrived before their 24th birthdays, while we’ve signed a plethora of young talent over the past few seasons such as Divock Origi, Marko Grujic and Alberto Moreno to name but a few.
Even Luis Suarez had only been 24 for four days when we signed him in 2011. He was of course sold for £75m three and a half years later.
It’s been the club’s policy to buy young and look to create stars rather than purchase readymade ones, and under Jurgen Klopp we’re starting to see it bear fruit.
Three other English sides, Manchester United (ninth, 23.92), Tottenham (fifth, 23.35) and Bournemouth (seventh, 23.68) feature in the Top 10, with two of Jurgen Klopp’s former teams Borussia Dortmund (23.30 years old) and Mainz (23.61 years old) also included!
No surprise there.
In the lead, remarkably, is Real Madrid (22.53) – who are known for purchasing superstars. However, their stats are skewed, as most of their signings go straight to Castilla, their second-team, who play in the lower divisions.