4 Liverpool star players expected to leave the club after the Champions League final
4 Liverpool star players expected to leave the club after the Champions League final
1. Divock Origi
After Saturday’s Champions League final, Liverpool will say farewell to four players, including the popular Divock Origi.
The Belgian is set to join newly-crowned Italian champions AC Milan on a free transfer after scoring 41 goals in 175 games for Liverpool. He scored the game-winning goal in Liverpool’s last Champions League final against Tottenham in Madrid in 2019.
2. Loris Karius
And a player who played in the Reds’ last final against Real Madrid, in Kyiv in 2018, will leave the Merseyside club after this weekend’s showpiece encounter. Loris Karius has not appeared in a competitive match for Liverpool since a dismal evening in Ukraine, when he made mistakes for the Reds.
Karius’ contract, like Origi’s, expires at the end of the season, and he will be free to leave the club after 49 appearances. In a two-year loan stay at Besiktas, he actually played more games. The German spent last season at Union Berlin, but only made four appearances, and it’s uncertain where he’ll go next.
3. Ben Woodburn
Ben Woodburn is another player whose contract will expire at the end of the season. The 11-cap Wales international is still only 22 years old, having made headlines in November 2016 when he became Liverpool’s youngest ever goalscorer.
Although the academy graduate has only made 11 senior appearances for Liverpool, he has had a productive season with Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.
4. James Milner
The immensely experienced James Milner is the fourth player likely to leave on a free transfer.
Liverpool are in talks to offer Milner a new contract, and Klopp said last month of the 36-year-old: “He’s a good example to follow. Nothing we’ve accomplished in the previous few years would have happened without James Milner, I’ve told him, and I can tell the rest of the world.”
However, it is unclear whether Milner would sign a short-term contract extension to stay on Merseyside for a little longer or will go. He may be able to make an emotional return to his boyhood club Leeds United.