When looking for a successor to coach Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool FC, everything is apparently clear with Arne Slot from Feyenoord Rotterdam. According to the BBC, the clubs have reached an agreement.
“I can only say that the clubs are negotiating. I can only wait and see what comes of it,” said the Rotterdam coach before the league game at Go Ahead Eagles Deventer on “ESPN”. It was clear to him, “I would like to go to Liverpool,” said Slot.
And according to information from the British BBC, everything is apparently already dry. Liverpool have agreed to pay Feyenoord £7.7 million (€9 million) plus possible surcharges of £1.7 million (€2 million).
High transfer fee under discussion
Slot, 45, still has a two-year contract with Feyenoord. According to media reports, Slot had already moved into the role of the top favorite to succeed the successful German coach for days.
Klopp announced in January that he would quit as Liverpool coach at the end of the season and take a longer break. He has been coach at Liverpool since 2015 and led the club to its first championship in 30 years in 2020.
Klopp could apparently live well with Slot as his successor. When asked about the Dutchman, Klopp said he liked the way slots teams played football. “If he’s the solution, I’m happy.”
Cup winner with Rotterdam
Slot became a coach immediately after his playing career in 2013. He was initially an assistant before becoming head coach of AZ Alkmaar for the 2019/20 season. There he collected an average points per game of 2.11 – more than any other coach in the club’s history.
But in December 2020 the collaboration ended abruptly: Slot held negotiations with Feyenoord, Alkmaar kicked him out: “We want a coach who is fully focused on AZ,” the club said.
And Slot got his way: He has been working successfully at Feyenoord since the 2021/22 season, where he succeeded Dick Advocaat. In Rotterdam he usually plays a 4-3-3, relies on attacking pressing and full-backs who think offensively. The outside midfielders then move into the center to create a superiority there.
Slot has had some success with his idea of football: in his debut season he reached the European Cup final of the Conference League with Rotterdam, and a year later he led the club to the championship. Last Sunday (April 21, 2024) Rotterdam won the national cup final under Slot.
“He was a real trainer”
The fact that Slot is a successful coach today was no surprise to some of his teammates. Bram van Polen, for example, once said in an interview with “NOS” that Slot had already coached his teammates as a player. “He was a real coach.”
Now he could follow Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool FC. There are overlaps in the way they both play football, including the pressing and intensity. Slot as Klopp’s successor, that wouldn’t be a big surprise – and somehow it would be.
Last year, Slot “Voetbal International” gave a longer interview. Of course he talked about football and the task in Rotterdam. But he also talked about Pep Guardiola. Slot recognized parallels in his coaching self with Guardiola, who had regularly annoyed Klopp’s Liverpool with Manchester City. He was, said Slot, a “control freak, like Pep Guardiola.”
And then Slot said another sentence that you don’t actually use when applying for a job at Liverpool FC. He said: “There is no team I would rather watch than Manchester City.”