After months of speculation and numerous names mentioned, it now appears Arne Slot will be Liverpool’s next manager.
Given the work Jurgen Klopp has done on Merseyside, including ending Liverpool’s three-decade wait to become Premier League champions, then it was always going to be a tough task to replace him.
Unless you are Pep Guardiola, then the next man through the door was always going to have some sort of question above his head.
Well, that immense pressure is going to fall into the lap of Feyenoord coach Arne Slot after he won the Eredivisie title last season and the Dutch Cup during this campaign.
It seems as though it’s just a matter of when Liverpool will make the announcement, and not if.
Fabrizio Romano has already shared details of what Slot’s first summer transfer priority will be ahead of his arrival.
There are some huge calls to be made, including deciding the destiny and futures of some key players from Mohamed Salah to Virgil van Dijk.
But you feel the one thing Liverpool fans will be most interested in is his coaching methods, style of play and how he addresses the media.
During Klopp’s tenure, fans have been used to this high-voltage football and their manager not being afraid to express his views in public.
Ian Wright shared his thoughts on Slot’s arrival and how the club were going to find it ‘very difficult’ to replace their manager with someone on his level, as he told Premier League Productions.
The former striker spoke about the 45-year-old’s coaching and how he has heard that he ‘loves being out there’ on the training field and the players really appreciate what he brings to the table.
All of this has ‘excited’ Wright because he pointed to the size of the club Slot is coming in to manage.
“Trying to bring in that level of manager after Klopp is going to be very difficult to find,” said Wright.
“I think it’s one of those that it might turn out to be okay. Depending on how he goes in, bigs his chest up when he gets into that dressing room. That’s a job you can’t refuse, I believe as a football manager whenever it comes, you probably aren’t going to refuse it. He was talking about the levels and what he needs to be. We saw that with ten Hag and how it hasn’t worked out for him at Manchester United.
“I think the way this guy comes in, and I have heard about him coaching. How he loves being out there and the players like what he does. Whether that can translate into the Premier League and it can work here. I don’t think that transitional high pressing can (work).
“You have to have something else to sustain it. This is why we are looking at ten Hag and the way he plays and it can’t work. I think, with this guy, what he has done and going to that club. I am quite excited for them simply because it’s a massive club. I hope that it can work out.”
Arne Slot’s first transfer window
One thing Slot is going to find out very quickly is that he won’t be able to spend like his rivals, namely Manchester City.
Kloop’s great strength was his ability to eek out every bit of quality from his signings, including turning players below the elite level into world-class stars.
Yes, Slot’s first transfer window is going to be very important, but his ability to get the best and improve what he already has is probably going to be more important.
Either way, just like Erik ten Hag at Manchester United, if he hasn’t felt the searing heat in football before, then he is going to taste and understand it when he takes to the Anfield dugout.
