Manager defends club’s spending record in dig at critics
‘We need to make sure we qualify for Champions League’
Arne Slot has defended Liverpool’s spending record but admitted the pressure was now on to qualify for the Champions League.
Their chances of making the top five – likely enough to qualify – took a significant hit after they lost 2-1 at Brighton in what has been a disastrous season in the context of a £450m outlay on players in the summer shortly after they had lifted the Premier League trophy.
In some of the biggest deals in history, Alexander Isak arrived for £125m, Florian Wirtz cost £116m and Hugo Ekitiké was signed for £69m. But Slot pointed out that critics seem to forget they also sold heavily in the summer.
“No one in England is used to the fact there are also clubs that are selling players,” he said. “Usually in England when a club is buying £450m like we did, that’s adding to the already great team. But this club has a different model and no one wants to see that and no one wants to understand this. That I can also understand because fans of other teams and certain pundits don’t want to tell you that we sold for £300m.”
Slot also highlighted they he had been unable to play major signings for much of the season. Isak has been out since December after arriving unfit and taking time to acclimatise then breaking a leg. Giovanni Leoni, a £26m signing, played once before he was ruled out for the season. Liverpool have also had to deal with the death of Diogo Jota.
Slot said: “It makes complete sense if you win the league and you spent £450m that the expectations are high. Those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans. At our club we’re also looking at the situation and the challenge we had during this season, and then we might be a bit more realistic, why the season has gone the way it has gone. But still it’s not good enough no matter how much excuses I can come up with, it’s still not good enough for the position you’re in right now.”
Liverpool recouped significant money in the sale of Luiz Díaz, sold to Bayern Munich for £65m, and Darwin Núñez, who went to Al-Hilal for £46m. But that has not relinquished any pressure on the need to qualify for the Champions League.
“There is always pressure at Liverpool,” Slot told TNT Sport. “On me, on the players. That is completely normal. We have qualified for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and the Champions League, but in the league we need to make sure that we qualify for the Champions League.”
