Liverpool 2025-26 summary: Top scorer, best moment, new signings and full verdict on Arne Slot's campaign

Fast forward a year from Liverpool's title celebrations, and the club are in complete disarray and may soon be looking for their next manager.

Few could have predicted that the Reds, having entered the 2025-26 campaign as reigning champions under Arne Slot, would capitulate to such an astonishing degree.

A fifth-placed finish in the Premier League fell far below expectations, and the exits of club legends Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson have made the season a truly nightmarish one for the Anfield faithful.

Here, Sports Mole provides an in-depth summary of Liverpool's historically poor 2025-26.

Liverpool 2025-26 season summary

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It is impossible to mention the story of Liverpool's 2025-26 season without acknowledging the tragic death of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva in the summer, with their loss curtailing what should have been a period of celebration for all those associated with the club.

Liverpool's opening game of the season against Bournemouth on August 15 was melancholic - a city and team in mourning came together to honour Jota at Anfield - and the tears shed by Mohamed Salah after his team's 4-2 victory were telling.

Teenager Rio Ngumoha would score his first ever goal for the club in stoppage time to help the Reds win 3-2 against Newcastle United on August 25, and nervy triumphs over Arsenal, Burnley and Everton put the team top of the pile after five matchweeks.

However, luck turned against Arne Slot, as his side conceded in second-half stoppage-time to lose 2-1 against Crystal Palace on September 27, the first defeat in a period that would see the Dutch coach suffer nine losses in 12 games.

That stretch included six defeats in seven Premier League outings, with Chelsea, Manchester United, Brentford, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest all getting the better of the Reds, while Palace emerged as 3-0 winners at Anfield to dump the Reds out of the EFL Cup's fourth round.

Then would come perhaps the most consequential moment of the season, when Salah was dropped from the team against West Ham United on November 30, a decision that would come to define 2025-26.

The Egyptian was also benched for Liverpool's following games against Sunderland and Leeds, but the winger furiously lambasted those behind the scenes after his side had drawn 3-3 with the latter, telling reporters that he had been "thrown under the bus".

Salah would be excluded from the squad for the club's midweek win against Inter Milan on December 9, and while he came on as a first-half substitute in a 2-0 win against Brighton four days later, he would miss the next six league matches due to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

One win and four draws - including stalemates with Leeds, Fulham and Burnley - did little to arrest the growing concerns about the man in the dugout, especially as Liverpool went on to lose two of their next three, leaving the team sixth with 39 points after 25 matchweeks.

The Reds would typically rally in a moment of strife, but while results did marginally improve as they collected 19 points from the next 27 on offer, performances were still consistently poor.

Late March saw Salah reveal that he would leave Anfield at the end of the season, but the winger's announcement did not inspire the squad, with the Mersyesiders losing 4-0 to Manchester City in the last eight of the FA Cup, before suffering a 4-0 aggregate defeat in April to Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

End-of-season losses to Manchester United and Aston Villa - as well as a draw with Calum McFarlane's directionless Chelsea - meant that the Reds entered matchweek 38 needing a point against Brentford to secure Champions League football.

Slot's men would draw 1-1 with the Bees on May 24, finishing fifth with just 60 points, though the football on the pitch mattered little considering fans were forced to wave goodbye to both Salah and Andy Robertson.

Liverpool top scorer 2025-26

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In a season of misery, one of the few bright sparks in the Liverpool squad was newcomer Hugo Ekitike, who managed to net 16 times for the Merseysiders across all competitions.

The striker scored 11 of those goals in the Premier League, three in the Champions League, one in the FA Cup and one in the EFL Cup.

That being said, Ekitike's season was still plagued by inconsistencies, with the Frenchman netting four times in his first seven games, only to fail to score in 28 of his next 37 matches.

Unfortunately for Liverpool fans, they will have to wait a considerable period before seeing the 23-year-old on the pitch again due to the Achilles injury he suffered against PSG in April.

Slot will need Alexander Isak to step up in 2026-27, though there is a chance that the Merseysiders could look to the transfer market to address their lack of firepower after Ekitike's grim diagnosis.

Liverpool player of the season 2025-26

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Dominik Szoboszlai would have been the clear winner of this award had the season stopped a few months earlier, but he undoubtedly struggled towards the end of the campaign.

However, it is impossible to ignore his form over the majority of 2025-26, with the Hungarian having given his best impression of Steven Gerrard in midfield, defence and attack.

The sale of Trent Alexander-Arnold may have been painful, but Szoboszlai benefitted hugely as he was finally able to take charge of dead-ball situations, and he managed to produce five free-kick goals.

In fact, the 25-year-old ended the season with 13 goals and 12 assists, and no other player in the squad generated more direct goal involvements.

Szoboszlai won the club's Player of the Month award five times in 2025-26, making him only the third Liverpool player in the past 15 years to claim the prize on at least five occasions in a single campaign, while only Mohamed Salah bettered that number in that period, with seven in 2017-18.

Liverpool's best moment of the 2025-26 season

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It is easy to forget that Liverpool fans were optimistic heading into the new season, and the signing of Newcastle United's Alexander Isak on September 1, 2025 only fuelled their expectations further.

Rumours of the Reds' interest in the striker had started some months prior, though few gave much thought to the notion that the club could pull off such a deal.

It would eventually become apparent that Liverpool were seriously interested in the Swede, who had been banished from training by Toon boss Eddie Howe before a £125m fee was agreed with the Magpies.

The 26-year-old only scored three Premier League goals for Liverpool during his debut campaign, though it was disrupted by injury and fitness concerns throughout.

Writing Isak off after a turbulent year at Anfield would be premature given he was able to score 44 times in his prior two league seasons, and in the post-Salah era, the striker is likely to be the focal point of the Reds' frontline.

Considering that the campaign was disastrous on the pitch, an off-field moment of optimism for the future was arguably the high point of the Merseysiders' 2025-26.

Liverpool's biggest disappointment of the 2025-26 season

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A total of 60 points is the team's joint worst return in 14 seasons, and while there were many low moments, the worst would be the period between September 27 and November 26, 2025.

The Reds were beaten nine times in a 12-game stretch, and the club's title defence was effectively ended in those fixtures.

Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, Chelsea, Man United, Brentford, Palace again, Man City, Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven all enjoyed successes against Slot's side, and perhaps the final defeat in that list was the most painful.

PSV not only left Anfield with all three points in their Champions League clash, but they walked away as 4-1 victors, a humiliating result that left everyone associated with Liverpool in complete shock.

The 2025-26 season would not conjure a period as painful, but those losses ultimately set the tone for what would be the Merseysiders' worst campaign in over a decade.

Arne Slot verdict: 2025-26 season

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Everyone at Liverpool must share the blame for such a disastrous season, but while it may seem harsh to single him out, Arne Slot is more responsible for 2025-26 than anybody else.

After being reinforced with elite talents such as Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, a haul of 60 points for the defending champions is hard to justify.

Right-back has been the only area of the pitch consistently troubled by fitness woes, and though midfielder Szoboszlai was often shifted into defence, there is an argument that he was the team's best full-back.

The Dutchman's defensive setup was routinely exposed, and while many observers focused on their vulnerability from set pieces, the ease with which opponents bypassed his side's press was just as alarming.

For a team that were renowned for their intensity under Jurgen Klopp, Slot appeared to somehow instil passivity throughout the squad.

Many reports claim that the head coach retains the backing of owners Fenway Sports Group, but the Anfield faitful have booed him on multiple occasions, and a poor start next season could make the atmosphere at home even more toxic.

Liverpool new signings 2025-26

Liverpool confirmed transfers in: Summer 2025

Jeremie Frimpong (£29.5m from Bayer Leverkusen)

Armin Pecsi (£1.5m from Puskas Akademia)

Florian Wirtz (£116m from Bayer Leverkusen)

Milos Kerkez (£40m from Bournemouth)

Freddie Woodman (free from Preston North End)

Hugo Ekitike (£69.4m from Eintracht Frankfurt)

Giovanni Leoni (£26m from Parma)

Will Wright (£200,000 from Salford)

Alexander Isak (£125m from Newcastle United)

Liverpool confirmed transfers in: January 2026

Jeremy Jacquet (CB | £60m from Rennes)*

Ifeanyi Ndukwe (CB | £2.6m from Austria Vienna)*

Mor Talla Ndiaye (CB | £1m from Amitie FC)

Noah Adekoya (CB | Undisclosed from Burnley)

Owen Beck (LB | Loan return from Derby County)

Harvey Davies (GK | Loan return from Crawley Town)

*joining in summer 2026

Liverpool 2025-26 season rating

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If any defending champion of the Premier League era entered a new season with a squad boosted by £450m worth of talent, then anything other than a league title or Champions League win would have been seen as failure.

Liverpool fans are known for their extraordinary patience, and most would have been forgiving of the manager if there was an underlying positive, but there has been sparingly little to cling to.

Had it not been for the emergence of Rio Ngumoha, the performances of Szoboszlai and the securing of Champions League football, then the team would have been deserving of the lowest possible rating.

Liverpool should count themselves fortunate that they have been awarded an overall rating of three.

Overall rating: 3/10