Liverpool’s 2024 was clearly split into two halves.
The first time around, Jurgen Klopp’s trophy-laden and transformative stint with the Reds came to an end. The German received the adoration of the Anfield crowd for the last time in May as his side ran out of power at the end of the 2023/24 Premier League season.
Klopp’s successor had a remarkably difficult task on his hands: 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 from an incredible foundation.
This turned out to be an inspired decision. The first half of the 2024/25 season has been truly exceptional for Liverpool, who lost just once last year under their new Dutch captain.
While 2025 promises to be an even more enticing year for Liverpool fans, let’s remember the best year for the Reds, 2024.
Liverpool have produced a number of the world’s best stars over the last decade and 2024 has seen plenty of them emerge. Virgil van Dijk enjoyed a bounce-back year, Alisson continues to be the best goalkeeper in the world when fit and Alexis Mac Allister immediately wowed Anfield with a string of outstanding displays.
However, there can be no doubt that Mohamed Salah was the Reds’ standout player last year. The tireless Egyptian has been remarkably consistent for Liverpool and could finish the current season with the best record of his career if he maintains his incredibly high standards under Slot in the second half of the season.
His longevity is exceptional, as is his resilience, while still offering the blistering pace and dynamic left foot that has typically put him at the top of Liverpool’s goalscoring charts.
Many have improved significantly since Slot’s launch, but none have surprised so much Ryan Gravenberch. The graceful but inconsistent Dutchman had traveled to Merseyside at the start of Klopp’s final season but found it a challenge to adapt to the physicality and energy of the Premier League.
Molding Gravenberch into an excellent defensive midfielder wouldn’t have been on many people’s 2024 wish list, but that’s what he’s done. The 22-year-old thrived while running Liverpool’s engine room, filling the club’s glaring need for a new number six.
Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz deserve loud praise when it comes to Liverpool’s biggest improvement in 2024, but Gravenberch’s transformation has been too startling to ignore.
The end of Klopp’s reign was littered with good stories about Liverpool’s academy prospects. Due to injuries, the club’s young players were given numerous opportunities to shine and most players made a positive first impression on the Anfield fans.
While Jarell Quansah also shone for Liverpool’s first team after gaining promotion to League One from relative anonymity and a short loan spell, it was at right-back Conor Bradley which became the most popular among fans in 2024.
After spending a season on loan at Bolton Wanderers, where he was named Player of the Year in 2022/23, the Northern Irishman immediately received opportunities for Liverpool’s first team. Following in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s footsteps is no easy task, but the 21-year-old has done an impressive job.
Bradley is more reminiscent of Andy Robertson than Liverpool’s number 66. He has had a hugely successful year and now has almost 40 appearances and a number of 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 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 by Erling Haaland in the Premier League.
The Reds’ talisman had a slow end to last season by his own lofty standards, but came back to life at the start of Slot’s reign. 20 of these 29 goals have come this season – 17 of which came in the Premier League.
Last year Liverpool was noticeably quiet in the transfer market. In fact, there have only been two senior signings, with only Federico Chiesa, a £12.5m move from Juventus in the summer, wearing a red shirt.
Arguably Liverpool’s more exciting new signing has yet to play for his new club as he is being recruited in the summer Giorgi Mamardashvili was loaned back to Valencia for the current season. The Georgian goalkeeper is one of the game’s best young stoppers and looks 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 where status as the biggest of 2025 is on the line. However, there is one standout moment from last year.
Liverpool won their last silverware under Klopp in February, winning the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea. Van Dijk’s 118th-minute header secured a famous victory for a young Liverpool team, defeating the ‘billion-pound bottlejobs’.
While Liverpool would have hoped to send Klopp off with more trophies, such a dramatic triumph was a fitting last hurrah for the legendary Reds boss.