Liverpool's 2024 awards: Best player, most improved & more | OneFootball

Liverpool's 2024 was distinctly split into two halves.

The first saw Jurgen Klopp's trophy-laden and transformative stint with the Reds draw to a close. The German received the adoration of the Anfield crowd for the final time in May, with his side running out of stream at the end of the 2023/24 Premier League season.

Klopp's successor endured a remarkably tough assignment, tasked with galvanising a group mourning the loss of their leader. Arne Slot was the coach identified by Liverpool's recruitment team as the perfect candidate to rebuild on incredible foundations.

That has proved an inspired decision. The first half of the 2024/25 campaign has been truly exceptional for Liverpool, who only lost once under their new Dutch commander last year.

While 2025 promises to be an even more tantalising year for Liverpool supporters, let's cast our minds back to the best of 2024 for the Reds.

Best player - Mohamed Salah

Another excellent year for Liverpool's No.11 / GLYN KIRK/GettyImages

Liverpool have boasted an array of the world's leading stars over the past decade and plenty stood tall in 2024. Virgil van Dijk enjoyed a resurgent year, Alisson continues to be the best goalkeeper on the planet when fit and Alexis Mac Allister instantly wowed Anfield with a series of stellar displays.

However, there can be no doubt that, once again, Mohamed Salah was the standout performer for the Reds last year. The relentless Egyptian produced remarkably consistent performances for Liverpool and could finish the current campaign with a career-best tally should he maintain his incredibly high standards under Slot for the second half of the season.

His longevity is exceptional and his durability equally so, while he still offers the searing pace and dynamic left foot that has usually seen him grace the top of Liverpool's goalscoring charts.

Most improved player - Ryan Gravenberch

Ryan Gravenberch has excelled under Arne Slot / Visionhaus/GettyImages

Many have notably improved since the arrival of Slot but none have quite astonished like Ryan Gravenberch. The graceful but inconsistent Dutchman had journeyed to Merseyside at the beginning of Klopp's final campaign but found adapting to the physicality and energy of the Premier League a challenge.

Slot moulding Gravenberch into an excellent defensive midfielder would not have been on many people's 2024 bingo card, but that he did. The 22-year-old has blossomed while anchoring the Liverpool engine room, answering the club's glaring need for a new number six.

Loud shoutouts must be heard for Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz when it comes to Liverpool's most improved in 2024, but Gravenberch's transformation has been too startling to ignore.

Best young player - Conor Bradley

Conor Bradley looks the real deal / Visionhaus/GettyImages

The end of Klopp's reign was littered with feel-good tales regarding Liverpool's academy prospects. Injuries meant that the club's youngsters received ample opportunities to dazzle and the majority made positive first impressions on the Anfield faithful.

While Jarell Quansah too sparkled for Liverpool's first team, rising from relative anonymity and a short loan spell in League One, it was right-back Conor Bradley who most endeared himself to supporters in 2024.

Following a season-long loan at Bolton Wanderers in which he was named the club's Player of the Year for 2022/23, the Northern Irishman was immediately granted first-team opportunities for Liverpool. Filling Trent Alexander-Arnold's shoes is no simple task, but the 21-year-old did a mightily impressive job.

Reminiscent more of Andy Robertson than Liverpool's No.66, Bradley enjoyed an immensely successful year, and has now racked up almost 40 appearances and a fair few assists for the Reds.

Top scorer - Mohamed Salah

Mohamed Salah produced another clinical year / Jan Kruger/GettyImages

Surprise, surprise. It's Salah who served up the most strikes for Liverpool last year, a regular feat reached by the 32-year-old.

Salah produced 29 goals in 44 matches for Liverpool in 2024, a tally bettered by just six players in Europe's top five leagues and only Erling Haaland in the Premier League.

The Reds' talisman endured a slow end to last term by his own lofty standards but has burst back into life at the beginning of Slot's reign. 20 of those 29 strikes have come this term - 17 of which have arrived in the Premier League.

Giorgi Mamardashvili is an elite goalkeeper / Lars Baron/GettyImages

Liverpool were eye-catchingly quiet in the transfer market last year. In fact, they made just two senior signings, with only Federico Chiesa, who signed from Juventus for £12.5m over the summer, having turned out in a red shirt.

Arguably Liverpool's more exciting addition is yet to play for his new club, with summer recruit Giorgi Mamardashvili having been sent back on loan to Valencia for the current campaign. The Georgian goalkeeper is one of the game's leading young stoppers and seems a natural heir to Alisson's throne with his excellent reflex saves and impressive distribution.

Best moment - Carabao Cup final triumph

Jurgen Klopp's final trophy / Nigel French/Allstar/GettyImages

If Liverpool continue on their current trajectory, there will be plenty of moments competing for status as 2025's greatest. However, there is one standout moment from last year.

Liverpool claimed their final piece of silverware under Klopp back in February, winning the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea. Van Dijk's 118th-minute header secured a famous victory for a youthful Liverpool team, defeating the 'billion-pound bottlejobs'.

While Liverpool would have hoped to send Klopp off with more silverware, such a dramatic triumph was a fitting last hurrah for the legendary Reds boss.