Money talks in football – as Liverpool are beginning to find out

ANFIELD — You wonder how Richard Hughes feels. Liverpool’s sporting director was the man responsible for the £241m splurge on Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak in the summer of 2025 that was supposed to turn a club that had just won the Premier League into a pre-eminent force in English football. What was created was an expensive, lumpen mess that cost Arne Slot his job while, after nominating Andoni Iraola as his successor as manager, Hughes stepped down to take over at Al-Hilal. He will be better paid than he was at Anfield but it is hard to imagine Saudi Arabia will provide him with a game as good as this one. It was settled (sort of) by Wirtz and Isak, who played like the kind of footballers Hughes imagined them to be. Bradley Barcola, the third £100m player in Iraola’s armoury, was also a dominant force against a Brighton side that promised more than they delivered. Money tends to talk in football and at Anfield its voice is beginning to be heard. The match-day programme is hardly a place to discover any home truths about a club but Dutch footballers have a tradition of speaking their mind and Virgil van Dijk’s comment: “We are moving in the right direction but we still have a lot of work to do, a long way to go,” seemed true in the wake of Liverpool’s recovery from two goals down against Villarreal on Tuesday night. It feels truer now.This was a big win. It was the first time since April that Liverpool had beaten anyone in the Premier League at Anfield and the first time since January that they had beaten anyone of substance and then Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for Newcastle. This felt like a big win for Andoni Iraola’s men (Photo: Reuters) Brighton are a team of substance. Their strategy is the reverse of Liverpool’s. Fabian Hurzeler’s starting line-up cost £560m less than Iraola’s. Last month they had gone to Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup, conceded two early goals, and played beautifully-precise football to win 3-2. Brighton’s decision making around the box was not as sharp as Hurzeler would have wanted. The Brighton manager bemoaned the “last pass, the last touch, so many little things”. Their best opportunities came from Allison Becker’s attempts to pass his way out of his own area, one of which led to Yasin Ayari hitting the post. Sunday’s outstanding figure was the only member of the starting line-up who has yet to cost Liverpool a transfer fee, although if Ronald Araujo continues to play like this there is little doubt they will pay Barcelona the £47m or so the Catalans want once his loan spell is done. Araujo’s size, speed and skill was a major reason why Brighton, who had not lost since August at Chelsea, were kept at bay. More on Liverpool Pete Hall: Liverpool have turned Anfield into a tame tourist-trap Special report: How Andoni Iraola ripped up Arne Slot’s Liverpool playbook He also provided the cross for the early breakthrough which came from Wirtz’s boots, although the fact it deflected off Pascal Gross meant it was not Wirtz’s goal. Wirtz has not felt the love at Anfield which his manager says is down to his “cold body language” – something that Iraola with his touchline histrionics cannot be accused of. However, Wirtz is still only 23 and after a wretched World Cup with Germany, he is in need of some luck and perhaps this is a beginning.