Liverpool will publish their financial accounts for the 2023/24 period in the coming weeks. But some details have already emerged due to the publication of the 2025 Deloitte Football Money League.

Deloitte’s annual report highlights the financial performance of the world’s biggest clubs, with a top 30 list compiled. The financial data that emerges from these reports comes weeks, and in some cases months ahead of the official publication of the financial accounts of clubs, meaning it gives the first clues as to what to expect, albeit light on the deeper detail.

This year’s report saw Liverpool drop one place in the list from seventh to eighth, leapfrogged by Premier League rivals Arsenal who benefited from their return to UEFA Champions League football after a six-season absence, at the same time as Liverpool failed to make European club football’s elite knockout competition for the first time since 2016.

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The absence of the lucrative revenue streams that come with competing in the Champions League, both prize money and the slice of the hefty broadcast monies that are on offer, means that the club are set to post a loss, likely between £40m and £50m, with that loss easily attributable to the loss of income based on a previous campaign that benefited from Champions League football.

Liverpool’s revenue will sit at around £615m, with matchday set to reach £114m, breaking the £100m barrier for the club for the first time thanks to the completion of the Anfield Road End redevelopment that increased capacity to 61,000. Commercial revenue is also set to rise to around £295m. It is the lack of broadcast revenue that had the greatest impact among the three main revenue pillars. Weaker player trading and increased costs will also play a part in a financial loss.

But among the data that was revealed was the increase in the club’s wage bill, set to rise £14m from £373m in 2022/23 to £387m for 2023/24.

Questions from some fans arose as to why that would happen given it was a season when the club didn’t compete in the Champions League, didn’t have any major contract renewals fall during that period, as well as seeing significant wage earners such as Thiago and Joel Matip exit the payroll.

There were some additions that arrived during that period, of course, with Alexis Mac Allister arriving, Dominik Szoboszlai being signed, as well as Ryan Gravenberch.

But it is the return to Champions League football, which was secured via a third-placed finish, that was the most impactful reason, with the incentivised nature of Liverpool contracts seeing a number of players have bonuses kick in for making the top four. Those bonuses weren’t there in 2022/23 due to a fifth-placed finish.

Other elements such as clauses in certain contracts that allow for a wage rise after certain conditions are met also played a part, so too did the fact that some would have benefited from a bonus for winning the Carabao Cup, depending on the nature of their contract.

But it was the return to the Champions League, allied with the arrival of new additions that saw an uptick, if a reasonably modest one, year on year.