While the Erik ten Hag comparisons were always going to appear, Arne Slot is his own man, and will walk into a Liverpool side with a more settled structure in place than the former Ajax boss found when joining Manchester United back in 2022.
That many of Ten Hag’s signings at Old Trafford were players he has worked with before – mostly at Akax, see Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Andre Onana, but also elsewhere like Sofyan Amrabat – speaks volumes about the lack of genuine footballing expertise in place during the Glazer era.
Arne Slot’s chances of success during his first window in the Liverpool dugout is likely to be far less reliant upon players he knows and trusts. Especially now that Michael Edwards, returning as CEO of Football, is back at Anfield these days, to be joined on June 1st by new sporting director Richard Hughes.
Still, that does not mean that Slot will not at least consider bringing a couple of familiar faces with him to Anfield.
Will Liverpool raid Arne Slot’s Feyenoord this summer?
HITC understands that Liverpool are admirers of Feyenoord duo Mats Wieffer and David Hancko, alongside box-crashing midfielder Quintin Timber. Their interest in Wieffer and Hancko goes back before they opened talks with the Eredivisie-winning head coach too, suggesting that Slot will not be the only one on Merseyside with a soft spot for the Rotterdam-based duo.
Liverpool have also been tipped to make a move for Lutsharel Geertruida, Feyenoord’s rampaging right-back/centre-half with eight goals and five assists to his name this season.
There is a feeling that Geetruida, the sometime Feyenoord captain, has outgrown Dutch football. But rather than make the substantial leap to the Premier League and risk falling flat on his face like Antony, Matija Kezman, Afonso Alves and co, one former Eredivisie ace feels Geertruida should take a leaf out of Xavi Simons‘ book and follow last season’s Golden Boot winner to RB Leipzig.
“It would be a nice step, you know,” Kees Kwakman, once of Groningen and NAC Breda, tells Voetbalpraat. “In two years, he can also take the next step. You don’t always have to go to the highest level (immediately).”
Lutsharel Geertruida urged to make Bundesliga switch
Leipzig, like their Salzburg-based sister club, have an excellent track record when providing a stepping stone to rising talents. Some of whom have ended up at Liverpool; Naby Keita, Ibrahima Konate, Dominik Szoboszlai, Takumi Minamino.
Kwakman also feels that Geertruida must pursue a club capable of offering regular first-team football. Given the qualities of Trent Alexander-Arnold and the breakthrough season of Conor Bradley, if there is one position Liverpool don’t seem to be in need of reinforcements, it’s at right-back.
“There is also a good chance that he will play (at Leipzig),” Kwakman adds, insisting that a reunion with Slot can wait for the time being.
“While they have a good philosophy there, those players there are always sold to big clubs.”
Geertruida, like Hancko, is valued at around £25 million. Liverpool would likely need to pay a similar fee to land Wieffer, Feyenoord’s rangy, all-action midfield general.
“Mats Wieffer has made a mega leap in terms of development. I can really enjoy that,” Slot told Voetbal International recently. “So big that, if he does that again, he will become the best player in the world.
“That is of course unrealistic, for any footballer. But Mats can get even better.”