Arne Slot believes there are two West Ham players who “could easily have played with us” after watching Liverpool’s narrow 2-1 victory at Anfield on Sunday.
Liverpool eventually showed their class with an emphatic winner from Virgil van Dijk in the 89th minute against West Ham, but they were close to slipping up again.
Andy Robertson‘s late own goal looked to have handed the visitors a deserved point, cancelling out an early effort from Luis Diaz, but fortunately the captain stepped up.
As Slot spoke to reporters after the game, he held West Ham‘s performance up as an example of “what makes the Premier League so strong,” naming Lucas Paqueta and Muhammed Kudus as players who could play for his Liverpool side.
“They also have players and that’s what makes the Premier League so strong this season,” he explained.
“I think they’re 16th or 17th in the league but I can name you one or two players that could easily have played with us today as well in terms of quality.
“That is what the Premier League is about. And they used them more and more in the second half, these two quality players.
“And they have more, but I think Paqueta and Kudus were outstanding today, especially second half.”
While any links with Paqueta would almost certainly be a non-starter given his looming ban after an FA charge over betting offences, Slot’s mention of Kudus is particularly interesting.
The 24-year-old – used on Sunday as a drifting central striker but able to play in any role across the front line – has been touted with a move to Liverpool since he was at Ajax.
He has ties with Slot’s assistant and former Ajax head coach John Heitinga and will be available this summer, albeit with an £85 million release clause in his contract.
Whether Liverpool will move for Kudus is unknown at this stage but with doubts over the future of Darwin Nunez along with Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa, he will likely be on their radar at the very least.
‘Kudus passed his transfer audition’
Danny Gallagher (@danny7gallagher)
Mohamed Salah‘s succession plan is a big point of focus in the inner sanctum of the Anfield war-room, and targets are constantly being drawn up and analysed.
One of which is most certainly an athlete who was on show in the form of Mohammed Kudus.
The Ghanaian was tracked by Liverpool prior to his switch to the Premier League, and has now very much proven he can cut the mustard in the English top flight.
His tantalising lob midway through the first half, which almost caught Alisson unawares and clipped the crossbar, was a timely reminder of both his technique and vision.
Kudus, at 24, is a serious footballer with an accomplished skill-set who has many more years of elite level coaching ahead of him to make him into an even better and more refined final product.
Given speculation over the future of Luis Diaz never seems to go away, perhaps the name of Kudus could be on the lips of Liverpool fans again sooner rather than later.
