Arne Slot hits back at big-spending Liverpool jibes

Telegraph

a day ago

Arne Slot has hit back at claims Liverpool are spending their way to becoming Premier League favourites ahead of the new season.
The champions have invested more than £250m in Slot's squad this season, with add-ons taking the outlay close to £300m. Florian Wirtz, at £116m, could also become the most expensive player in English football history if the add-ons are met.
But Slot, ahead of Sunday's Community Shield against Crystal Palace, says he will be coping with more changes in his squad compared to previous seasons when first-team players rarely left Anfield.
The club is still in mourning at the tragic death of Diogo Jota in a car accident. Darwin Núñez, Luis Díaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold have left the club while Caoimhín Kelleher and Jarell Quansah were valuable squad members who have found new teams.
Slot believes this provides context to a busy summer of trading where Wirtz has been joined by Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and Giorgi Mamardashvili.
'What I feel is not being talked about enough, I've lost four players that have started regularly,' said Slot. 'One of them I, we, his family, lost him. That's Diogo. Then Darwin might be on the verge of leaving. Luis Díaz was a definite starter, and Trent [Alexander-Arnold] was a definite starter.
'So normally in the Premier League, teams only buy, and never sell. We do both. So that is something I don't think is addressed enough yet. So it's quite normal if four of them are not there that you bring in players as well. It's quite normal, if Trent is going to go, that we bring in a full-back. If Luis Diaz is going to go, that we bring in maybe Florian Wirtz, who can play as a 10 and as a left winger.
'It's quite normal if one attacking option is not there with Diogo, that we bring in Hugo Ekitike. And don't forget that last season we only sold, we didn't buy. Caoimhín Kelleher and Jarell Quansah also played quite a lot of minutes, so that makes four regular starters and two players that played a lot.'
In the Netherlands, Slot was used to a rapid turnover of players. The summer before winning the Eredivisie title with Feyenoord, the club sold Marcos Senesi, Tyrell Malacia and Luis Sinisterra to Premier League clubs.
But he pointed out that Liverpool have rarely sold players when at their career peak since Philippe Coutinho's move to Barcelona. Fabinho, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson were either approaching their 30s or older when they were sold to Saudi Arabian clubs two years ago.
'In Holland it's completely normal, because there are levels above Feyenoord or AZ Alkmaar where I worked before. So if you do good as a team, players always go. At a club like Liverpool, there's no level above, so it's not that common that players leave,' he said.
'In the last five or six years, not many players have left this club, let alone for big transfer fees.'
After this weekend's curtain-raiser against Palace, Slot's champions will start their Premier League defence against Bournemouth next Friday and have been installed as favourites with the bookmakers.
'If you won it last season it's quite normal that you are part of the favourites again for next season,' said Slot. 'For me it would not be normal if it's about spending, because the net spend of us compared to the other teams is not in our favour, if you look at the last two seasons.
'But it's completely normal that we are one of the favourites, because we won it last season. And we brought in good players, like all the other ones did – there's only been one exception in the last two, three, four, five, six years, and that's been Liverpool last season.
'Sunderland are spending money. Every team in the Premier League. That is what happens in the Premier League, that's why it is such a nice league. So if we are only favourites because we've spent a bit, I would see that as weird, because we've lost a lot as well.'