Liverpool have parted company with Arne Slot just a year after he won the Premier League title.
The Reds have made the decision with reluctance but an understanding that the title defence was a failure – and they need to rebuild again.
Slot lost 20 games this season and finished fifth, with fans revolting and several key players – such as the now-departed Mohamed Salah – speaking out about the playing style.
Salah recently harkened back to Klopp’s ‘heavy metal attacking team’ in a social media post, which widely perceived as a dig at Slot.
Liverpool confirmed that the process to appoint a new boss is underway, adding: ‘He leaves with a Premier League title to his name and our deepest gratitude and appreciation.’
His dismissal came as a surprise to much of the squad, who thought he had ridden the storm of recent weeks. Slot found out the news on Friday.
Andoni Iraola is the front-runner to take over. The former Bournemouth boss was brought to the Premier League by Richard Hughes, who has since moved to Liverpool as sporting director. Iraola, 43, has held talks with a number of clubs around the continent.
Liverpool have parted ways with Arne Slot just a year after he won them the Premier League
Andoni Iraola, who recently left Bournemouth, is the front-runner to replace the Dutchman
Iraola is holding out for the job but the Reds have also considered Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness and Pierre Sage of Lens. Both have made their teams punch considerably above their weight.
Palace are understood to have made an offer for Iraola and have been hoping for an answer from the Spaniard this weekend. He has also spoken with AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool only just qualified for the Champions League after a record-breaking £415million transfer spend in the summer.
That was despite breaking the British transfer record twice, first for Florian Wirtz in a £116.5million deal and then for Alexander Isak at a £125m.
But Isak spent large swathes of the season injured and Wirtz struggled to settle despite his sparkling reputation arriving from Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool were also found lacking at the back, conceding 53 goals in the league, but Slot will point to the season-long injury of Giovanni Leoni on his debut as a mitigating factor.
Slot also had to contend with the death of Diogo Jota last summer, which Liverpool’s squad have consistently pointed to as a traumatising experience.
Moreover, the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold after a 20-year stint at the club since the age of six was something largely out of Slot’s hands and neither Jeremie Frimpong nor Milos Kerkez has been unable to replicate his creative influence from full-back.
Past Liverpool managers have been able to point to European glory after underwhelming domestic seasons but Slot’s record on the continent was middling.
Liverpool reached the last 16 and the quarter-finals of the Champions League under him, losing to Paris Saint-Germain in consecutive seasons.
Slot became the second Liverpool manager to life the Premier League title after Jurgen Klopp
Mohamed Salah was unimpressed with Slot’s playing style and made his feelings public
It was always going to be difficult to emulate Klopp, one of the totemic figures in Liverpool’s history and was able to electrify Anfield even when his side were perceived as the weaker team.
Klopp recognised the potential for nostalgia and, rather selflessly, chanted Slot’s name at Anfield in his final game in charge against Wolves two years ago in a bid to muster some mania for his successor.
But ultimately, despite leading them to Premier League success, Slot was seen as a more technocratic, managerial figure than Klopp, who captured the spirit of the city, sang the terrace songs, and shared beers with supporters. Slot, meanwhile, faced boos this season.
He tackled the challenges thrown his way graciously. Despite Salah being openly critical on his way out the door, Slot handed him a start in the final match of the season against Brentford – having dropped him earlier in the campaign.
Asked how he will remember Salah, Slot said: ‘100 per cent last season, he said the most special thing I have won was last season’s Premier League title.
‘Now I can safely say that was the most special thing I have won in my life so I will remember that and how important he was in that season for the club and as a result also for me with all the goals he scored.’
Many fans had seen Xabi Alonso as the dream successor but after his move to Chelsea, Iraola is seen as the frontrunner following his departure from Bournemouth.
Iraola led Bournemouth into the Europa League and sets up his teams with an attractive style but has never managed a club of Liverpool’s ilk after stints at Larnaca, Mirandes, and Rayo Vallecano.
Slot was unable to strike up the same relationship with the fans as Jurgen Klopp – but anyone would have struggled with that
Bournemouth only finished three points behind Liverpool and took the race for the Champions League down to the final day.
Whoever succeeds Slot, they inherit a situation which is being talked about as a transitional period. Andy Robertson joins Salah in heading for the exit, with the left-back on his way to Tottenham on a free transfer.
They will also pick up a situation with a lot of promise. Liverpool are still able to compete for the best players in the transfer market and Slot also bequeaths a remarkable teenage talent in Rio Ngumoha, who he has nurtured well, to his successor.
It feels as if Liverpool are back at square one after a rollercoaster couple of years.
