Liverpool have been one of the busiest clubs in the transfer market this summer but Reds boss Arne Slot believes one area is being overlooked in assessing the club’s work this summer
Arne Slot has pushed back on the attention Liverpool’s big spending in the transfer market is receiving and instead highlighted the exits he has also had to deal with. The Reds have seen a great deal of turnover despite winning the Premier League in the Dutchman’s first season in charge.
Liverpool broke the British transfer record to land Florian Wirtz for up to £116million and the team’s spending has breached £300m with the arrivals of Hugo Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giorgi Mamardashvili. And the incoming business may not be complete with speculation continuing over Alexander Isak’s future at Newcastle.
But Slot does not believe that tells the whole story as he deals with the departure of players who played significant roles in bringing a title to Anfield last season. The Merseyside club have been required to replace and rebuild rather than simply improving their team in recent months.
“What I feel is not being talked about enough – although you have to make your own decision when you talk about it – [is that] I’ve lost four players that have started regularly,” said Slot. “And one of them, I, we, his family, lost him. That’s Diogo.
“Then Darwin might be on the verge of leaving. Luis Diaz was a definite starter, and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] was a definite starter.
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“So normally in the Premier League, teams only buy, and never sell. We do both. We lost players in a good phase of their career. I’m used to that, and it sometimes gives new energy as well.”
Liverpool’s boss has less than a week until the team’s title defence begins against Bournemouth and three weeks until the transfer window closes. The Reds continue to be linked to Isak, while a number of stars such as Harvey Elliott could still depart.
As a result, Slot does not want to make any premature judgements on whether he has a better squad at his disposal than 12 months ago. The 46-year-old will only make that assessment once August is over.
“That is something I can only tell you at the 1st of September, because the window is still three weeks open. So I do feel that the players we’ve brought in have done already really well, as expected, because that’s why we brought them in.
“But I cannot tell you now if these players are able to perform at the same level every three days, therefore we first have to start the season [to see]. And I did know that Luis Diaz was able to do that, and all the other ones were able to do that. So that is another challenge at the Premier League, because we play so many games.”
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