Richard Hughes' mistake now looks painfully obvious

Last summer saw plenty of turnover at Anfield, with several stars leaving for free at the end of their contracts.

Ibrahima Konate, Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, three of the Reds' most iconic players across the last five years, all left the club for nothing in June.

The club, and specifically former sporting director Richard Hughes, faced plenty of criticism for this at the time, but Liverpool are clearly missing one of the three more than the others.

Left-back has continued to be a massive problem in the early days of Andoni Iraola's reign, and losing Robertson for free is now an even harder fact to face.

Richard Hughes made a huge mistake with Andy Robertson

Despite Milos Kerkez's arrival in the summer of 2025, Robertson made 36 appearances for the Reds in all competitions last year, including 20 starts.

The Scot was also Liverpool's vice-captain and played an important role in the leadership of the dressing room.

Despite this, the veteran fullback was reportedly not even offered a new deal to keep him in Merseyside, leading to him eventually joining Premier League rivals Spurs on a free transfer.

Robertson has been a bright spark in an otherwise dreadful Spurs team early on this season, and he put in another good display for the club's massive win over Chelsea on Saturday.

The 32-year-old looked dangerous with his crossing, creating one big chance before being subbed off in the 65th minute, and also managing one interception, one clearance and four recoveries.

The match against Chelsea was Robertson's sixth start of the season for Spurs, and the left-back has only been left out of the starting XI twice in the league this season.

Robertson is a regular at Spurs, and as Liverpool look on with both Kerkez and Tsimikas struggling to produce any kind of return, not extending the 32-year-old's stay looks like a massive mistake.

Spurs did offer the veteran a four-year deal, which would have been out of the realms of possibility at Anfield, but Hughes definitely could've done more to keep the Scot around.