Thirteen players left Liverpool for new pastures in the summer and their moves have brought them mixed success.

Sadio Mane, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino were among those who found new clubs for the 2022-23 season after a 63-game marathon with the Reds.

There were also a number of youngsters whose deals weren’t renewed by Liverpool, each looking for new teams both inside and outside the English football pyramid by then.
Here we take a look at how everyone is doing in their new home and provide ratings for their seasons out of ten so far.

Sadio Mane – Bayern Munich

Games played: 28
Goals: 11
Assistance: 5

Mane was by far the biggest dismissal of the summer after moving to Bayern Munich for £35.1m. The Senegalese striker had enjoyed a twilight spell in the center of Liverpool’s attack in a season which saw 23 goals, but the 30-year-old has not enjoyed the same form in the Bundesliga.

He has scored 11 goals in all competitions so far and was recently sent off at half-time in a 2-1 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen.
A fibula injury kept Mane out of action for three months, including the 2022 World Cup, and his last league goal came in October.

Rating 5

Divock Origi – AC Milan

Games played: 25
Objectives: 2
Assistance: 1

Things have certainly not gone smoothly for Origi since he arrived in Italy, with injuries and front-row competition involving him mainly coming from the bench, as he did at Liverpool.

The Belgian has just scored twice in all competitions for the Rossoneri, and recent reports in Football Italia have suggested the club may be ready to let the striker go this summer. He left Merseyside with the best wishes of the fans and on good terms with the club, so it’s a shame the move hasn’t ignited his career as he had hoped.

Rating: 4

Neco Williams – Nottingham Forest

Games played: 30
Goals: 0
Models: 1
Goal conceded: 8

Williams was one of the first names on the squad’s roster in the early months of Forest’s campaign.

The defender’s minutes have fallen slightly since the start of the year, but he has still featured in all but two of his side’s Premier League games in 2022/23 as they look to provide top-flight safety.

Williams’ only assist for the club was a 4-1 League Cup win over Blackburn in a run that saw Forest reach their first semi-final since 1992.

Rating: 7

Takumi Minamino – Monaco

Games played: 21
Goals: 1
Models: 4

Minamino’s lack of commitment to Liverpool resulted in a £15m switch to League One, but goalscoring proved difficult for the striker. The 28-year-old has scored just once for Monaco in 21 appearances for the club and, like Origi, most of his minutes have come from the bench.

Minamino’s only goal came in a 3-0 win at Stade Reims, but the Japanese forward had more creative fun, with four assists.

Rating – 5

Ben Davies – Rangers

played: 32

Goals: 0
Assistance: 1
Clean sheets: 13

After a bizarre spell on Merseyside that saw no appearances for the Reds, Ben Davies actually made his first competitive appearance at Anfield for Rangers in the Champions League group stage.

After picking up injury early in his Glasgow spell, the defender has since established himself as a mainstay in Rangers’ backline, missing just one game in the Scottish Premiership since September.

The 27-year-old will be hoping his side can make an unlikely late charge for the title, with Celtic currently leading by nine points with so many games left.

Rating: 7

Loris Karius – Newcastle

Games played: 1
Goal conceded: 0

Remarkable circumstances saw Newcastle’s third-choice goalkeeper play his only game for the Magpies in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley – 728 days after his last competitive game.

His recent Champions League mistakes at Kyiv in 2018 led to a series of unsuccessful loan spells before eventually earning a permanent move to the North East, where playing time was far from expected.

The German might have hoped to do better for Man United’s runners-up finish at Wembley, but given his lack of meaningful minutes in recent years, the 29-year-old is far from embarrassed.

Rating: 6

Ben Woodburn-Preston North End

Games played: 36
Goals: 2
Models: 3

Liverpool’s youngest goalscorer hasn’t had quite the impact he hoped to have at Liverpool and as was the theme with our recently departed strikers, goals haven’t been scored this season.

The 23-year-old has made 36 appearances for Preston North End this season but the vast majority of them have come from the touchline. Woodburn was on target as his side traveled to Premier League Wolves in the Carabao Cup second round, with the game eventually ending in a 2-1 loss.

Rating: 6

Sheyi Ojo-Cardiff

Games played: 35
Goals: 2
Models: 0

Ojo is another player who received a series of loan moves before eventually leaving the Reds and ending up with Championship side Cardiff.
The 25-year-old was tried out in various positions but couldn’t secure a permanent place in the squad.

Like Woodburn, one of his goals came against Premier League opponents when Leeds were forced from behind to force a replay in the FA Cup third round.
Rating: 5

Other young people

Five other players have come through the exit door after their contracts expired last summer.

Elijah Dixon-Bonner was a free agent until mid-October when QPR secured the youngster’s services, but his first appearance didn’t come until March 18 in a 1-0 home loss to Birmingham.

Former Liverpool Under-21 skipper Tom Clayton joined League Two Swindon alongside Jake Cain, with the pair recording 25 and nine appearances respectively.

Luis Longstaff has played 29 games for Cove Rangers while Sean Wilson is currently trying to break into the Airbus UK side of the Welsh Premier League.

Also.. 

Would a midfield switch work and is Trent Alexander-Arnold really a liability?

He is certainly not the only player in form, but Trent Alexander-Arnold has not played at the level Liverpool expect this season.

Vinicio Jr. made light work of Liverpool’s right-back over two Champions League legs, with Alexander-Arnold receiving some criticism.

After the match against Real Madrid, Jamie Carragher said fellow Scouser “must think long and hard at the end of this season about where he is at right-back.”

But is Alexander-Arnold really at a defensive disadvantage, or is the debate about a change of position overrated?

Here, Liverpool fans Henry Jackson (@ HenryJackson87), Tom Eves (@TomEvesJourno) and Adam Beattie (@ beatts94) assess where the 24-year-old is in his career and whether anything needs to change at right-back. First of all, how do you rate his season so far?

Adam: It’s one he prefers to forget, that’s for sure, both personally and collectively.

Confidence has been hard to find in the team, but he certainly seems to have felt it more than most.
Henry: It was a disaster, let’s be honest.

He was arguably Liverpool’s worst player for so many in a terrible season. Defensively, he has repeatedly been taken out, targeting opposition wingers, and just two assists in the league prove he hasn’t been as effective up front either.

Tom: We are so used to celebrating Trent’s assists and what he has to offer in the future but, as Henry says, he only has two assists in the Premier League this season.
I think he himself would have wanted more at this stage.

Henry: Trent hasn’t been helped by Liverpool’s overall struggles, with midfield offering him no protection, but there’s no denying this has been a bad season for him.

He doesn’t help if the team isn’t playing well, do you think it’s just a setback? 

Adam: I remember similar conversations during pandemic season and he certainly wasn’t the only one.

Hopefully the rookies in midfield will help him out as we’re sorely lacking in legs there at the moment and that obviously leaves him a bit exposed.
Tom: Yes, it’s definitely a blip.

We all know how good Trent can be and what talent he has. I think he just needs to get his confidence back.
Henry: All great players go through tough times – look at Marcus Rashford for example last season against this one, or Steven Gerrard in his younger years. Trent will be back to his best with signings after a break over the summer.

Is his defense really that bad?

Henry: Is he naturally a great defender? Absolutely not.

He can fade at times and doesn’t have the same defensive approach to the game as Andy Robertson, but he’s still doing great in that area. You can’t play for a Liverpool team that has won so much lately and not be good at all facets of your game. Look at his performance against Leroy Sane in the Champions League in 2018, he was fantastic in defence.

Now there’s a witch hunt with Trent, but it’s getting more and more hyperbolic.

Tom: With our system over the years, the midfield has always protected the full-backs when they come up the pitch, but our midfield hasn’t been great this season, so I think it has had a domino effect on Trent as well.
Adam: I guess it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy because last year it felt like a lazy critique, when this season you’d have to admit it’s accurate.

Are we seeing a move to midfield? 

Adam: He will turn 25 in October and has been in the starting eleven since 2017/18.

For the most part he has been one of the best right-backs in the world in a system that has allowed him to showcase his abilities.

If the switch does eventually happen, I’m guessing it would be for a defensive midfielder in the same move as the likes of Joshua Kimmich and Phillip Lahm.

He would still have room to dictate play and from there you could still feel the benefit of his passing range.

Tom: I still expect you to play again, yes. We have had a lot of success with Trent in that position but I wouldn’t mind seeing how he fares in a midfield role at some point.

Henry: I think I’m outnumbered but would definitely consider giving him a chance in a right sided number 8 midfield role.

He played in midfield during his youth days so it’s not that he doesn’t know the position, and the quality he has in him allows him to shine in the same way as Kevin De Bruyne.

Do you agree that he needs competition at right back?

Henry: Absolutely. The hope is that Calvin Ramsay is that man – he’s looked great the few times we’ve seen him this season – but his injury issues are cause for concern and he’s still a very young player learning.

I would consider bringing in another right-back to solve this problem – perhaps a fairly experienced leader who is ready to be a team player but can do a good job when needed.
Basically a right-back version of Kostas Tsimikas!

Tom: With Robbo and Tsimikas fighting on the left flank, I’d like to see some decent competition for Trent.
Adam: I think we were all hoping it was Ramsay!

Obviously, things haven’t quite worked out for him this season and he was rarely in the squad even before the injury.

So unless Klopp sees an opportunity to change that next season, we definitely have to look for someone else.