Ground shaking news coming out of Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon as Romano relays brutal statement
Liverpool could stand to lose as much as £120m if they fail to secure Champions League football for the 2026/27 season.
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This troubling statement comes directly from finance expert Kieran Maguire (via BBC Sport).
Albeit, it’s expected that the Reds’ rude financial health would allow the club to withstand a loss of even this magnitude.
Virgil van Dijk’s warning still rings true for Liverpool
Whilst somewhat reassuring to hear that the world won’t end for Liverpool, even if they fall outside of the top five spots, it would be naive to assume that it would be “business as usual” this summer.
Our ability to compete for the biggest names in the sport will almost certainly be compromised – not to mention our ability to actually afford to sign them.
Virgil van Dijk more than alluded to that reality in comments relayed on X (formerly Twitter) by Fabrizio Romano.
Virgil Van Dijk on eventual failure to qualify for Champions League: “It will have impact on the summer window, 100%”.
“The stakes are very high. Listen, if you play for Liverpool, it's always been like that. We need to get into the Champions League”. pic.twitter.com/GF8fjXJ8Zo
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 4, 2026
Liverpool may very well have survived prior stints outside of Europe’s premier competition, and they almost certainly will again if they’re unfortunate enough to miss out this term.
But given the scale of business that needs to occur this summer, not least of all two desperately-needed pacy wingers, can the club really afford to be bereft of the Champions League football going into the summer?
It feels like we’d be heading into the next campaign expecting more of the same.
Forget about Michael Olise and Yan Diomande?
A move for Michael Olise was always looking quite unlikely. The Bayern Munich winger is currently on a three-year contract, and it remains unclear whether there is an advantageous release clause for Liverpool to exploit.
But there’s every possibility that the dire financial straits (from a purely transfer-focused perspective) Liverpool could soon find themselves in could threaten deals for the likes of Yan Diomande.
The RB Leipzig winger likewise won’t come cheap. In fact, reports currently suggest that Diomande will set any interested party back in the region of £80m-90m.
Can Liverpool afford this kind of outlay on a winger, plus additional business, without Champions League football? Will our owners risk that kind of spending without that kind of financial backing behind them?
Bear in mind that we’ve already picked up an eye-catching, if not yet show-stopping,£46.4m for our troubles in this year’s Champions League campaign.
| Liverpool’s earnings from Champions League in 2025/26 |
| £8.12m for finishing third in the league phase |
| £1.7m bonus for finishing in the top eight |
| £9.5m for getting through to the last 16 |
| £10.9m in performance pay (for winning six out of eight games) |
| £16.1m for participating in the competition |
* Liverpool’s Champions League earnings (BBC Sport)
Last year, Europa League winners Tottenham earned only roughly £21m for winning the tournament. A paltry figure by comparison.
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