With Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk signing new contracts until 2027, Liverpool have ambitions to match in the upcoming years and Arne Slot has spoken of transfer assurances ahead of the summer.
Before Virgil van Dijk‘s contract was made official, he said of the club: “I think they’re planning to make it a big summer, so we all have to trust the board to do the right job.”
The club cannot afford to stand still and Slot was asked in his press conference on Friday about the assurances regarding reinforcements this summer.
After hinting at top-quality signings last week, his answer this time around was somewhat eyebrow raising as he emphasised “it’s always a big summer” at the club, which is not always true!
“I think at Liverpool, there’s always a big summer at a club like this, and it’s already a big summer now,” Slot said on any transfer assurances.
“Maybe the players don’t follow everything that’s been said in the media, me neither, but what I do know sitting here every time was that it was a big thing, can we hold on to him?
• READ: Alexander-Arnold WILL play for Liverpool – Slot reveals return plan
“Can we hold on to him? And by holding on already to two [out-of-contract players], it’s already a big summer, so let’s see what the rest of the summer will bring.
“But it would be strange for me to say now that I’m not happy with the team we have because I’ve said this for a year, so we are happy with the team we have.
“Maybe if we can even keep that team, that will already be a big summer.”
‘You want to keep the core of the team together’
The last comment sounds not too dissimilar from what we would previously hear from Jurgen Klopp, with keeping hold of players seen as the success rather than building from a position of strength.
Slot has never been one to show all his cards, but he was eager to emphasise the benefits that come with keeping a squad together for the long term.
“We showed the opposite last season because we didn’t change anything, I don’t think we went downwards,” the Dutchman explained.
“But in general, I agree with you, but there’s also a lot of lots of studies being done that the longer a team plays together, the more success it has.
“So I think the core of the team you want to keep as long as you can together, as long as they are performing in the best possible way.
“But it is also, in general, good to have some new energy in and around the place with one or two new players, that I agree on.
“But it isn’t really a necessity if you look at the quality we have and the quality of the season we’ve had.
• READ: Van Dijk contract another sign of LFC’s “ambition” – Slot
“We saw during the week how good of a team Newcastle is, they are number three now, so that they played so well against us in the League Cup final is probably not a surprise anymore.
“And Paris Saint-Germain has been good, but Villa showed, number seven at the moment in England, that they can win against PSG. What a league we are in.”
