Liverpool are used to signing top talents from the Bundesliga, such as Wataru Endo and Dominik Szoboszlai last summer. They even signed Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich, making it the second time the Reds have signed a high-profile center midfielder from the Bavarian giants.
The first was Thiago Alcantara, who left for Anfield after winning the treble at Bayern and establishing himself as one of the best players in the world. He was vital to Bayern’s success and flashed that same ability at Liverpool, but he was unable to fully recapture his form due to a myriad of nagging injuries that eventually led to his retirement in 2024.
There has been a case of an iconic player taking the opposite journey from Liverpool to Bayern Munich, as Sadio Mane left the Reds after reaching the Champions League Final in 2022 to replace Robert Lewandowski as the “false nine” in Munich.
Mane was more disappointing to Bayern than Thiago was to Liverpool, fading quickly in the Bundesliga due to injuries before making his way to Saudi Arabia where he has teamed up with Cristiano Ronaldo to form a solid attacking partnership at Al-Nassr.
This coming summer, there are rumblings that Bayern Munich could try to take another top player from Liverpool, as Die Roten are carefully mulling over potential Manuel Neuer replacements.
According to a report from ESPN FC, however, Bayern will not be pursuing Liverpool star goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who is the second-most important player to the Reds behind superstar right winger Mohamed Salah, who himself has been linked to a transfer to Saudi Arabia.
Alisson has been plagued by injuries in the 2024/25 campaign but is still regarded as the best keeper in the Premier League and one of the best in European football as a whole.
Currently, the favorite to replace Neuer in goal in 2025 or 2026 is Alexander Nubel, currently loaned to Champions League side Stuttgart. Bart Verbruggen of Brighton is another high-profile option.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.