NEWS. . . BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Arne Slot will be Liverpool’s new manager this summer following the departure of Jurgen Klopp, but how will the Reds align with the Dutchman at Anfield?
On Friday, he announced that Liverpool had reached a £9. 4m repayment deal with Feyenoord, so Slot will move to Anfield this summer.
The 45-year-old has made clear his aim to sign for Liverpool, while Klopp has also subsidised Liverpool’s preference for bringing the Dutchman to Anfield.
Slot led Feyenoord to be the top Dutch name last season, while that crusade saw his side win the KNVB Cup, and he has now overtaken Xabi Alonso, Ruben Amorim and Roberto De Zerbi on Liverpool’s wish list for a new boss.
Arne Slot ended his 18-year-old career in 2013 after stints with Dutch side PEC Zwolle, NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam as a midfielder.
Slot, known for his passing and vision, “behaved like a coach” in his final years as a player, according to former teammate Bram van Polen.
Immediately after putting on his boots, he worked for a year as a youth coach at PEC Zwolle before becoming an assistant coach at Cambuur.
Dutch club Cambuur sacked their coach in October 2016, allowing Slot to become co-co-co-boss, helping them move from 13th to 3rd.
Under Slot’s leadership, Cambuur reached the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup for the first time in the club’s history and beat Dutch giants Ajax.
This saw AZ Alkmaar take on Slot as assistant coach, and then take over as head coach for the 2019-20 campaign, becoming the first manager to accomplish 19 things in his first eight top-flight games at the club.
Slot earned 2. 11 points per game for AZ in the Eredivisie, the most of any coach in the club’s history, and Feyenoord hired him as coach in 2021.
Slot worked miracles at Feyenoord, guiding them to Eredivisie glory and the KNVB Cup as runners-up in the inaugural Europa Conference League.
In 2023, his team beat Shakhtar Donetsk 7-1, achieving their biggest European win since 1995, becoming the first Feyenoord coach to win 15 matches in Europe.
“It’s only a matter of time before some other big English club comes knocking on the door,” Dutch journalist Marcel van der Kraan told Sky Sports.
“He’s been a successful coach, he’s also been incredibly impressive with his taste for very offensive play, in the style of Pep Guardiola.
“I don’t expect Feyenoord to get in the way. They know he’s a very sought-after coach, but they’ll ask for huge compensation. He has two years left on his contract, which is a record deal.
“Never before in Dutch football has a team paid such a high salary to a coach. The players love him, the fans love him, the club loves him; They probably wouldn’t need him to leave.
“Feyenoord have any and all rights to ask for a significant sum because there is no clause in his contract that he renewed last year.
“He’s a successful coach and he made Feyenoord champions thanks to the crazy and sexy football game.
“That’s what this kid brings to the football field. You have nothing left to gain here.
“The next step for him is to take the club to the big league and no league is bigger for the Dutch than the Premier League. I’d be surprised if Slot didn’t take advantage of this opportunity and the Liverpool manager next season.
Liverpool have made Arne Slot a target this week after comparing a host of managers across Europe.
Xabi Alonso was the initial first-choice target before pronouncing his decision to stay at Bayer Leverkusen after guiding them to Bundesliga glory.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim emerged as a possible option at the time, although he will most likely end up at West Ham.
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi and Bologna manager Thiago Motta were also linked, but Slot is now the favourite to update Jurgen Klopp.
Arne Slot prefers a 4-2-3-1 formation with maximum intensity in possession, which can be flexible to accommodate attacking players.
He prefers to have two intense midfielders and depend on the wingers to create chances.
Clusters of slots dominate the property and play in the forefoot and are known for their pressure.
“We’re an offensive team that likes to have a lot of ball and we play with a lot of intensity,” Slot said of his love of soccer.
“When we don’t have the ball, we need to get it back as temporarily as possible by being competitive and urgent to regain possession. I think we’re a tough team to beat.
Liverpool’s four full-backs under Arne Slot will likely look very similar, assuming none of their star defenders leave the club in the summer transfer window.
Mohamed Salah, however, has been heavily linked with the Saudi Pro League, with West Ham star Jarrod Bowen being one of his replacements.
It has been reported that Slot would possibly sign Teun Koopmeiners from Atalanta in one of his first moves as manager of Liverpool, which he controlled at AZ Alkmaar.
Put us in your feed