Liverpool head coach Arne Slot would not be drawn in the pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen defender Jeremie Frimpong but admits the focus of the Premier League champions is now on the summer transfer window.
The Dutchman admits that even when he was on a short break in Ibiza this week, where he was pictured celebrating with Gary Lineker’s brother Wayne and former EastEnders actor Dean Gaffney, he was thinking about how he can improve his title winners in the transfer window.
“It’s going to be a boring answer. We don’t talk about players we want to bring in in public until the moment they sign,” Slot said of Frimpong, with whom the club have held talks as they plan to trigger his £30 million release clause.
Liverpool also have an interest in Frimpong’s team-mate Florian Wirtz, who was reportedly in the north west this week having been linked with Manchester City and also Bayern Munich, as they look to improve a squad which won the title with a month to spare and currently has a 15-point lead over Arsenal.
Asked whether the focus had turned to transfers, a laughing Slot added: “Did you see me this week on social media?
“But even if you are celebrating over there, it doesn’t mean the whole day you aren’t thinking about something else.
“But a larger part of my mind now is already into next season, than it would have been had the next two games still been decisive for us.
“It’s a normal situation that my thoughts, if I’m on the couch tonight, are more into next season than they would have been if the games were still very important.”
Slot will not only be thinking about new arrivals as there are a number of fringe players who will possibly move on.
Second-choice goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher looks certain for the exit with Valencia’s Giorgi Marmadashvili signed last summer, but the likes of Kostas Tsimikas, Harvey Elliott, Darwin Nunez and Federico Chiesa are all facing uncertain futures.
Chiesa, more than any of them, has had little chance to prove himself since arriving in a cut-price £10m deal from Juventus in late August due to a lack of fitness and then subsequent injury niggles.
The Italy international has made just 13 appearances and has yet to start in the Premier League.
“In terms of the quality he has he would deserve more playing time at this football club as he has the quality to play for us,” said Slot.
“But unfortunately for him he is in competition with Mo Salah when it is about the right wing but I think he can also play as a left-winger, but he has Cody Gakpo and Lucho Diaz.
“I don’t think I am wrong if I tell you these three have had a great season and for him [he was] starting one or two or maybe 3-0 down because the moment he came in he was, by a long way, not as fit as the other players were and that doesn’t help in the beginning.
“The other ones did so well there was not a lot of reason for me to change and then being in the squad becomes difficult if Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota are there as well.
“But is he good enough to play for us? Yes he is. I have always felt Lucho Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Mo Salah deserved the confidence I had in them and I hardly ever changed that set-up between the three of them.”
