Richard Hughes has a big Liverpool PROBLEM he can no longer ignore

Richard Hughes has a lot on his plate at Liverpool right now.

The Reds' sporting director did not inherit an easy situation at the club with the club's key three superstars having all entered the final year of their deals this season.

On top of that he has been under pressure to sign players as well all the way through last summer and failed to land Liverpool's key target Martin Zubimendi.

But as well as having to sort out the future of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, Hughes now also has to contend with another problem.

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Liverpool's impending homegrown crisis

One of the biggest issues that could fall on Hughes' lap next summer is the club's lack of homegrown players.

Every Premier League club can name a 25-men squad with eight homegrown players in the team.

This season, Liverpool have only selected seven homegrown players.

This was as follows: Caoimhin Kelleher, Vitezslav Jaros, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Tyler Morton and Tom Hill.

But if you notice many of the players on that list have uncertain futures at the club.

Kelleher, Jaros and Morton are all likely to leave for pastures new in January or morel likely in the summer.

Alexander-Arnold's contract is expiring at the end of the season. Meanwhile, Joe Gomez has also been linked with a move away over the course of the last few seasons and could well decide to depart.

So that would leave Hughes with Curtis Jones and Tom Hill.

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Well, not quite. Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley and Harvey Elliott, who currently do not have to be registered as they are U21 players, would also count as homegrown stars next season.

But that still leaves Hughes with just five homegrown players at Liverpool next season and one of those would be Tom Hill.

This would be two less than this season, again if we are counting Hill as one of those players.

Clearly, Liverpool's lack of homegrown players would leave Slot with a weakened squad and a disadvantage heading into the 2025/26 campaign.

That's why Hughes has to address the problem before things get out of hand.

It could be by securing the future of Alexander-Arnold for example or by pursuing more homegrown players in the transfer market.

Either way, Hughes definitely has one more issue to add to his plate that is already very full.

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