Liverpool are heading into the new Women's Super League season with a renewed sense of optimism after a difficult 2025-26 campaign that saw them finish 11th. Following a productive summer transfer window and promising pre-season form, the Merseyside club believe they can build on the momentum they generated in the second half of last season, when results improved significantly.
Head coach Gareth Taylor, who only took charge midway through last season, has now had the benefit of a full pre-season to work with his squad. Managing director Andy O'Boyle has also had three transfer windows to reshape the roster since arriving at the club. Among the incoming additions is Germany international forward Vivien Endemann, signed from Wolfsburg, who is regarded as one of the standout signings across the league this summer. The 25-year-old brings 17 caps for her country, a German Cup winner's medal from 2024, Women's Champions League experience, and a role in Germany's third-place finish at the 2024 Olympics.
Goalkeeper Khiara Keating has also joined, reuniting with Taylor from his time at Manchester City, though she arrives with less top-level experience than Jennifer Falk, the Swedish shot-stopper who impressed on loan at Liverpool last season before deciding not to make the move permanent in order to stay closer to her family.
The club has also brought in Japan youth international Mao Itamura from Feyenoord. The 20-year-old, who was named the Eredivisie's player of the year last season, is seen as a versatile, dribble-heavy forward capable of adding a new dimension to Liverpool's attacking play.
Not all the news has been positive, with the departure of centre-back Gemma Bonner among the notable losses from last season's squad. Even so, there is a belief within the club that this year's group is well-equipped to secure Premier Division safety comfortably, even if matching the continental ambitions of the WSL's wealthiest clubs remains out of reach given Liverpool's more modest budget compared to City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Liverpool's improvement trajectory last season was notable statistically: they picked up 11 more points in the second half of the campaign than in the first, the biggest swing in form of any WSL side. Had they sustained that better form throughout the whole season, they would have finished with enough points for a sixth-place finish.
Off the pitch, Liverpool's women's team continues to operate on a self-sustaining basis, having posted a cumulative profit of more than £500,000 across the last eight seasons, without the heavy financial backing that has helped other major clubs' women's sides grow. The team trains at Melwood, regarded as one of the better facilities in the league, and will play most of its home fixtures at St Helens Stadium, a 18,000-capacity venue shared with a rugby league club. Notably, Liverpool have confirmed three fixtures will be staged at Anfield this season, starting with a Merseyside derby against Everton in September.
Taylor, a former Wales international striker with a playing career spanning clubs such as Bristol Rovers, Nottingham Forest and Wrexham, has significant managerial pedigree, having won the Women's FA Cup with Manchester City in 2020 and the League Cup in 2022, along with narrowly missing out on a league title.
Swiss forward Aurélie Csillag expressed confidence in the group ahead of the campaign. "We want to be in the first half of the table because we have really good players and I think we can show what we are capable of. I believe in every single person in this team. We have good chances to have a great season. And we all have this good feeling; I can feel it in the training," she said.
Liverpool begin their campaign away at newly promoted Charlton, hoping for a much faster start than last season, when they had to wait until late January to claim their first league win.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.