Liverpool exit Champions League: The real cost of elimination, including transfer plans
The Reds needed to beat Swiss side Basel at Anfield but could only manage a draw
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool's early exit from the Champions League has a number of implications for the club.
Here we take a look at some of the after-effects.
FINANCE
Liverpool banked £8.4million from the group stage before television income is taken into account. They will miss out on a potential £18.4million available in prize money to the remaining teams. Even getting to the quarter-finals would have brought in £3million, in addition to the £2.7million they would have received for reaching the last 16, with more broadcast cash to follow. The only way to offset that would be to win the Europa League, which would rake in £5.5million and also guarantee a Champions League place next season.
TRANSFERS
While any good quality players signed in January would most likely have been ineligible for the competition had Liverpool progressed, a decent run in the competition can be a persuasive factor in a player's decision. Manager Brendan Rodgers is unlikely to spend heavily in the new transfer window, having spent £110million in the summer, but he needs to get more goals into his team. Recalling Divock Origi from his loan at Lille is a distant - and costly - hope, and with Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli to be fit soon Rodgers' best hope may be to gamble with a couple of his youth-team players like Jerome Sinclair or Sheyi Ojo.
MANAGER
If a stuttering league campaign has not been bad enough, Rodgers' performance in Europe has put him under the spotlight even more. From fielding a weakened side against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu to scoring just five goals in six matches, their return to Europe's elite after a five-year absence has been shambolic. Rodgers has plenty of credit with owners Fenway Sports Group after leading the club to second place in the Premier League last season but he will need to instil significant powers of recovery in his side if that is not to wane.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Playing Thursday and then Sunday is generally regarded as being less than constructive to success in the Premier League, but that is what Rodgers must now manage. On the plus side he has the squad to cope with it having brought in seven new players in the summer, although they were meant to assist in the Champions League.
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