Arne Slot has said last season’s title triumph “postponed” the end of an era at Liverpool but that the club were under no illusions a rebuild was required when appointing him as Jürgen Klopp’s successor.
Two more links to the Klopp era will be removed this summer when Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah leave on free transfers. Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Joe Gomez, the remaining players from the squad that delivered Premier League and Champions League success to Anfield under Klopp, will then enter the final years of their contracts.
Slot is under intense pressure after a dismal season that has brought 16 defeats, a figure he knows is unacceptable. The head coach, however, insists he and the club hierarchy, including the sporting director, Richard Hughes, and the owner, Fenway Sports Group, remain aligned on the reasons for the problems, including an inevitable transition period after Klopp. The turmoil that accompanies transition, Slot believes, was delayed by last season’s Premier League title.
“This is one of the things we are aligned on – not now, but one and a half years ago,” said Slot on having to manage the break-up of a great Liverpool team. “It is normal in football that you have cycles. I’m really happy that Mo and Robbo have worked with all of the signings we did last summer because they have been able to see what the club means to them and how hard they work. That is a normal process at successful clubs, or any club, that there is an end to a cycle. That’s not something that is new to us. The great thing is that we maybe postponed that cycle with last season.”
Slot insists he still feels the support of Hughes, Michael Edwards, the chief executive of football at FSG, the ownership and, “weird as it might sound” after a chastening run of defeats, Liverpool fans.
He said: “It’s not about every day they are saying: ‘We support you, we support you.’ It is talking through what we see is happening and, sometimes, it is not always needed to say: ‘I am supporting you,’ but you can feel that support. I’ve felt that support since I’ve been here.
“I cannot tell you what we are saying to each other but I think, and I don’t know what people are writing, but I think we all see the same. By that I mean the ownership, Richard, Michael, everyone. Everyone sees what is happening in front of our eyes and we are all aligned in what we are seeing. We are definitely aligned in what we are seeing and on the reasons for it.”
