‘Won’t hesitate’ – Arne Slot drops huge Liverpool transfer hint

Liverpool are currently in the middle of one of the biggest rebuilds in Premier League history – and they won’t stop any time soon.

That’s what manager Arne Slot insinuated ahead of the Community Shield clash with Crystal Palace.

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The Dutch boss won the title in his first season at Anfield but he’s not resting on his laurels.

The Reds have already signed eight stars for a combined total of £265.2million.

And for the Wembley curtain raiser, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, and Hugo Ekitike all started, while Giorgi Mamardashvili made the bench – the entertaining first half saw Ekitike and Frimpong scoring.

The club have also bid £110m for Newcastle United centre-forward Alexander Isak, although this was swiftly rejected.

But Liverpool might not be stopping there.

Speaking to TNT Sports about their stunning spending spree, Slot said: “What people tend to forget is we lost four starters as well and that is not normal. Ideally [early business] is what you want but it is difficult. I’m really happy that we could bring in who we have.

“I’m really pleased [with them]. It is not just down to them, the players that have stayed behind have also helped because they have such a good structure.

“We have lost Trent Alexander Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez and losing that experience makes a difference. I can tell you that the players we have brought in have the quality to play for Liverpool.”

The Reds have not signed a centre-back this summer, despite allowing young England star Jarrell Quansah to leave for Bayer Leverkusen in a £30m deal.

Slot, though, isn’t ruling out a defensive acquisition before the transfer window ends.

He added: “We have more than enough options [in that area], but if we see a chance in the market we will not hesitate to act.”

Liverpool only have Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Ibrahima Konate as specialist centre-backs, right now.

Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, though, have both played there in a pinch for Slot, while Andy Robertson has featured there during some of Liverpool’s pre-season matches.

They have also been linked to Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi and Toulouse defender Charlie Cresswell.

Premier League rivals shouldn’t be surprised by Liverpool’s foot to the floor approach to transfers this summer.

Slot and his players have all made it clear this window would likely see a raft of moves take place as they look to improve a title-winning team.

What did Liverpool say about the transfer window?

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Speaking to Dutch outlet AD, captain Virgil van Dijk said: “The club is very ambitious, the plans for this summer sound good. There is still a lot to achieve here.

“Whatever is going to happen with players coming or leaving, I think this is going to be a very important summer for the club.

“I am convinced that the club management see it that way too – and we have to trust that they are going to do that in a good way. So that we can also play for prizes in the coming years.”

Meanwhile, Slot himself said after their title win: “It would be weird if we were completely different, but we have to adapt,” Slot said on the pitch.

“If there is a possibility, you try to strengthen it with players you bring in.

“We need to be better next season because the competition will probably be even better next season as well. You always have to try to become better.”

“I am not sure if it is going to be a lot,” he said when he asked how many signings fans could expect. “We know, the club, [sporting director Richard Hughes], the ownership, we are all aligned on what we are trying to achieve.

“It’s already very positive that we kept [Mohamed Salah] and [Virgil van Dijk], and a few others we have tried to sign.

“We are very happy with the squad we have, but this club has always shown that if they can strengthen the team, that is what they do. But big or not, it is already a big summer because we won the league.

“Even during the season, you are already looking towards the next season. Our sporting director is more focused on the long term than me, but keeps me informed all the time.

“As you can expect, the targets we have now didn’t come up last week. We were looking for them for a long time.”

Even Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan was insistent the club had to spend this summer, especially after a quite summer in 2024.

“It doesn’t just happen; it’s been years in the making,” Hogan told The Athletic in an interview.

“One of the things we’re constantly focused on is that ‘virtuous circle.’ Trying to run the club in the right way to ensure that we can generate as much revenue as we possibly can. That obviously helps in terms of being able to put more back into the team.

“The difficulty is if you just look at one individual summer. That probably skews the data. There were a lot of comments made last summer that we didn’t spend enough…

“We also recognise, having won the English league title for the 20th time, that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We want to make sure that we are behaving like one,” he added.

“Having massive global stars come and play at Anfield, filling out stadiums in Hong Kong and Japan, those are things we expect and want to do.”