Liverpool's Potential Signing: Fikayo Tomori from AC Milan

Richard Hughes is heading for the exit at Liverpool at the end of the summer window, bound for Al-Hilal after just over two years at Anfield.

Two years that brought a record-breaking window. Two years that also delivered a handful of transfers that never really landed. Now, with his bags virtually packed, this always felt like the moment for one last big swing.

So far, that grand finale hasn’t quite arrived. But one name suddenly back on the market could change the mood around his departure in an instant.

Tomori placed on AC Milan exit list

Liverpool’s season just gone was undermined by one glaring issue: the defence.

Injuries piled up. Form deserted key players. Results slipped away. A campaign that once promised a title tilt ended with the club scrambling just to cling onto a Champions League place.

The fallout was brutal. Arne Slot lost his job after a short and stuttering spell, and Liverpool turned to Andoni Iraola to reset the project.

The Spaniard’s arrival has at least brought a sense of alignment. His ideas sit closer to the high-energy, front-foot football that Jurgen Klopp embedded at Anfield, and crucially, the club hierarchy appear ready to arm him with the right profiles. The signing of Ronald Araujo underlined that intent: fix the back line, restore authority.

Now, another long-standing defensive target has suddenly been pushed into the shop window.

Fabrizio Romano revealed that Fikayo Tomori has been placed on AC Milan’s exit list and is available for transfer, explaining that the decision followed talks between head coach Ruben Amorim and chairman Gerry Cardinale.

For Liverpool, the timing feels almost scripted.

A ready-made solution at centre-back

If Liverpool can finally close a deal for Tomori, they would go a long way towards locking down their defence for the next phase of Iraola’s reign.

At 28, Tomori is entering his prime years. He has spent the last few seasons in Serie A, learning the tactical demands and defensive discipline of Italian football with AC Milan. The club may now be ready to move him on, but the defender’s level is not in doubt: there is still a robust, high-calibre centre-back there for a top side to unlock.

He would not arrive as a project. He would arrive as a pillar.

Like Araujo, Tomori would inject experience and authority into a back line that has too often felt stretched and improvised. His availability record also works in his favour; Iraola needs players he can trust to be on the pitch, not in the treatment room.

Then there is the homegrown factor. Tomori’s status as an English player is a major asset in the Premier League’s registration rules, making him an even cleaner fit for Liverpool’s squad planning. It’s the kind of detail that can tilt a recruitment decision when the football case is already strong.

Of course, that same homegrown tag will light up radars across England. Several Premier League clubs are likely to circle, knowing he ticks both performance and quota boxes.

But if Liverpool are serious, if they move with conviction, they have the pulling power, the Champions League stage and the project under Iraola to win that race.

For Hughes, one decisive move for Tomori before he jets off to Al-Hilal would not erase every misstep of the last two years. It would, though, leave behind a defence built to last—and a final signature that might just define how his Anfield tenure is remembered.