# You Can’t Buy Experience: Why Liverpool’s Core Departure Matters More Than You Think

URL: https://technosports.co.in/you-cant-buy-experience-why-liverpools-core/  
Published: 2026-05-05  
Updated: 2026-05-05  
Author: Ankush Mallick

[**Liverpool** ](https://www.liverpoolfc.com/)have spent the last decade building one of the most successful periods in the club’s modern history. Between Jürgen Klopp’s transformative reign and Arne Slot’s title-winning first season, the Reds have lifted major trophies, re-established themselves among Europe’s elite, and produced a spine of players who would feature in countless supporters’ all-time XIs.

But time, inevitably, catches up with even the greatest sides. Trent Alexander-Arnold has already departed for Real Madrid. Now it has been confirmed that **Mo Salah** and **Andy Robertson** will also leave at the end of this season. Meanwhile, questions swirl around Alisson’s future (despite the club triggering a one-year option), and Virgil van Dijk turns 35 this summer, entering the final year of his contract.

So just how much experience are **Liverpool** losing — and is this season of transition only the beginning?

## The Core That Delivered Titles Is Disappearing

In recent years, **Liverpool** have gradually said goodbye to Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Sadio Mané, and Roberto Firmino. Yet until now, they had retained the defining core of their most recent title-winning sides: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Robertson, and Salah.

![Liverpool](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Liverpool-top-10-Premier-League-appearances-1024x1024.jpg)

All five were central to last season’s Premier League triumph — and all five were also integral to the title win five years earlier. Their cumulative experience at Anfield is staggering.

| Player | Premier League Apps for Liverpool | Champions League Apps for Liverpool |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mo Salah | 313 | 81 |
| Andy Robertson | 273 | 72 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold* | 259 | 69 |
| Virgil van Dijk | 246 | 66 |
| Alisson | 236 | 63 |

*Alexander-Arnold left for Real Madrid last summer.

By the start of next season, there is a very real possibility that only Van Dijk will remain from that quintet.

It is not simply the individual minutes that matter. It is the shared history — the thousands of training sessions, the big nights under the lights, the title run-ins, the setbacks, and the collective understanding of what it means to play for **Liverpool**.

## The Chemistry You Cannot Buy

Few partnerships in the **Premier League** era have been as enduring — or as effective — as **Mo Salah** and **Andy Robertson** on Liverpool’s right-to-left axis. The pair have started **257 Premier League games together**, placing them among the most frequently paired duos in the competition’s history.

| Duo | Premier League Games Together |
| --- | --- |
| Salah & Robertson (Liverpool) | 257 |
| Baines & Jagielka (Everton) | 252 |
| Carrick & Rooney (Man Utd) | 247 |
| Seaman & Dixon (Arsenal) | 243 |

Van Dijk’s own relationships within that spine are just as significant. He has played **246 Premier League games** alongside Salah, spraying countless diagonals into the Egyptian’s path, and **219 games** next to Robertson in **Liverpool’s** back four. Alisson, meanwhile, has shared **236 games** with Salah, **213 with Robertson**, and **212 with Van Dijk** — and had already lost Alexander-Arnold from his defensive unit after **206 appearances** together.

![](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Most-games-played-by-Premier-League-duos.jpg)

Building that kind of rapport matters. Learning a new league is one thing. Learning how to *play with your teammates*, in real time, under pressure, with the weight of Anfield expectations, is something else entirely.

That is why the arrivals of Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili, and Hugo Ekitiké last summer — while exciting — have not yet produced the seamless fluency supporters hoped for. Wirtz and Isak, in particular, have shown flashes of world-class talent (both scored in the 3-1 win over Crystal Palace last Saturday), but still look as though they are adjusting to new systems, new teammates, and new demands.

Kerkez, signed explicitly as Robertson’s long-term successor at left-back, endured a slow start before growing into the role in recent months. Crucially, Robertson has remained available to deputise when required — a safety net that has proven invaluable as **Liverpool** have consolidated a top-five finish.

![](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Liverpool-age-matrix-all-competitons-2025-26-1024x819.jpg)

And then there is Ekitiké, whose ruptured Achilles will keep him sidelined for several months — a cruel interruption to what was supposed to be a major step in the club’s attacking evolution.

## The Weight of Minutes: Van Dijk, Salah, and the Burden of Experience

For all the talk of transition, **Liverpool** remain heavily reliant on their senior figures — perhaps more than the club would like at this stage of the cycle.

Despite being 34 years old, **Virgil van Dijk** has made the most **Premier League** appearances of any Liverpool player this season (34) and the joint-most appearances in all competitions alongside Alexis Mac Allister (51). Excluding stoppage time, Van Dijk has played **4,581 minutes** in all competitions — the most of any player across Europe’s top five leagues this season, and already more than any **Liverpool** player managed in the entirety of 2024-25 (when Salah led the way with 4,497 minutes).

![](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Most-mins-played-all-competitions-2025-26-1024x1024.jpg)

Salah, meanwhile, went off with a hamstring issue in the win over Crystal Palace, but the club confirmed on Wednesday that he will be fit to take the field at least once more before the end of the season. Even with that scare, his numbers remain extraordinary: **257 goals in 440 appearances** for **Liverpool**, including **46 of the club’s 214 goals** (excluding own goals) under Arne Slot — **21.5%** of the team’s total output.

When Salah is not scoring, **Liverpool** have looked noticeably more vulnerable. That is not a criticism so much as an acknowledgement of reality: replacing a player who contributes more than one in five of your goals is not simply a question of signing another forward.

## History Suggests Change Does Not Have to Mean Decline

**Liverpool** supporters do not need reminding that the club has navigated this kind of transition before. The two players to have featured together most often in **Premier League** history are Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard, with **383 appearances** as a partnership. Carragher left in 2013; Gerrard departed two years later.

The year after Carragher’s exit, **Liverpool** came agonisingly close to winning the league in 2013-14. Gerrard’s departure preceded the arrival of Jürgen Klopp and the most successful sustained period in the club’s modern era. None of that happened *because* Carragher and Gerrard left — but it is a reminder that endings create space for new beginnings.

Of the current squad, only **Curtis Jones** (224 appearances) comes close to the experience levels of the departing core — and even he has been linked with a summer move, ironically because he has not been playing enough. Between Salah, Robertson, Van Dijk, and Alisson alone, the quartet have amassed **1,518 appearances** for **Liverpool**. The rest of the squad members who have played at least one senior game this season combine for **1,494**.

![](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Liverpool-player-appearances-all-competitions.jpg)

That is not to say the group is inexperienced in absolute terms. Kerkez, Mac Allister, and Isak all arrived with substantial **Premier League** and European pedigree. But familiarity with *Liverpool specifically* — with the club’s standards, its rhythms, its expectations, and its unique pressure-cooker environment — cannot be imported overnight.

## What Comes Next: Rebuild, Not Reset

Van Dijk, speaking recently about Alisson’s future, captured the mood better than anyone.

“***There is always going to be a day where you — including myself — will go. But if it’s going to happen — and I have no idea about [Alisson’s future] and I don’t think at this point he has an idea about it — then we will, as a club, adapt to that. We have been through everything together, positive things and some negative things unfortunately as well, so it would definitely be a big blow and a miss… He’s very important for me as one of the leaders in the team and I think he is very important on the pitch because I think he is one of the best — in my opinion the best — goalkeeper in the world***.”

Reports suggest **Liverpool** could receive £10–15 million for Alisson should he choose to leave now. But that fee would hardly compensate for losing another senior figure, let alone what he still offers between the posts. Unless the Brazilian is adamant about a move, retaining him for the final year of his deal feels like the sensible — and emotionally coherent — option.

More broadly, the challenge facing **Liverpool** is not simply replacing individual players. It is replacing *institutional memory*. **Mo Salah** and **Andy Robertson** have been constants through the club’s greatest modern triumphs. They know what it takes to carry the expectations of Anfield, to perform when the margins are thin, and to be loved beyond reason by supporters when they deliver.

You cannot sign that. You can only develop it — through patience, through careful recruitment, and through giving new leaders the time and platform to emerge.

By the start of the 2027-28 season, **Liverpool** may have no players left in the squad with 300 or more appearances for the club. That is the natural consequence of time. But whether that accelerates an inevitably difficult rebuild or makes it harder depends on the decisions made over the next 12 months.

![](https://technosports.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Mohamed-Salah-and-Virgil-van-Dijk-1024x683.jpg)

Change is uncomfortable. Change is also necessary. **Liverpool** have to build new stars now, with the aim that in five or six years’ time, supporters are having this exact conversation again — mourning the departure of the next generation of legends, while trusting that the club has already laid the foundations for what comes after.

Read More: [40-Year-Old Striker Hulk Leaves Atletico Mineiro for Fluminense in Shock Transfer](https://technosports.co.in/40-year-old-striker-hulk-leave-atletico-mineiro/)

## FAQs

### Why are Mo Salah and Andy Robertson leaving Liverpool?

Both players are set to depart at the end of this season as part of a wider transition at the club, with contracts and long-term planning aligning with a changing squad profile.

### How many games have Salah and Robertson played together for Liverpool?

They have started 257 Premier League games together — one of the most frequent duos in Premier League history.

### Who remains from Liverpool’s title-winning core?

Virgil van Dijk looks set to stay for at least the final year of his contract, while Alisson’s future remains uncertain despite the club triggering a one-year option.

### How important has Salah been to Liverpool’s goals this season?

Salah has scored 46 of Liverpool’s 214 goals under Arne Slot (excluding own goals) — 21.5% of the team’s total output.

### Has Liverpool gone through this kind of transition before?

Yes. The departures of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard marked the end of one era, but created the conditions for Jürgen Klopp’s successful rebuild and subsequent trophy-winning period.