Liverpool ready to open talks to hire a “genius” upgrade on Arne Slot

Pundits gushed from each which means as Arne Slot led Liverpool to the Premier League title with the consummate ease of a seasoned coach inside the English recreation.

The fact is that the Reds had been written off after Jurgen Klopp stood down with a surprising mic drop, and doubts multiplied after FSG’s rebrand failed to supply thrilling switch outcomes throughout the 2024 summer season window for beginner Slot, who had beforehand solely managed in his Dutch homeland.

The 2025/26 marketing campaign has been a stark and sobering shift for the Dutch coach, whose group of champions have been augmented by a wealth of high-priced summer season signings.

Liverpool have been a shell of themselves, however they’ve picked issues up over the previous month, 11 unbeaten after beforehand, staggeringly, dropping 9 of 12 video games in all competitions.

Even so, Slot’s place on the helm is much from safe.

The most recent on Arne Slot’s place at Liverpool

Slot has crafted a practical unbeaten run over the previous month, and now they’re fourth within the Premier League after drifting into mid-table earlier on.

Even so, so much has been left to be desired, and prime sources resembling The Athletic have advised that one other deterioration in outcomes and an extra souring of the temper on Merseyside might push the boss’s tenure towards being untenable.

Ought to push come to shove, sources at TEAMtalk consider Xabi Alonso might be in line to succeed him, having this week left his put up at Actual Madrid after a turbulent six-month spell.

The report stresses that FSG are able to open talks with the 44-year-old’s representatives when the precise alternative emerges.

That is considerably corroborated by The Athletic, and it is value remembering that Alonso, with a deep connection to Liverpool, was in competition forward of Slot earlier than opting to spend one other season with Bayer Leverkusen after Klopp made his determination in early 2024.

Why FSG need to appoint Alonso

Alonso was caught between the grinding stones of strain and expectation at Actual Madrid, and he has left his put up midway by means of his first time period on the helm.

Ask Florian Wirtz or Jeremie Frimpong about this grasp tactician and they need to reveal a lot of his aptitude, with Liverpool’s £116m playmaker as soon as saying it was “nice to have a legend as a coach”.

A means of symbiosis between techniques and player-coach relationships paid Leverkusen handsomely. All had been rewarded. The German membership received their first-ever Bundesliga title as invincibles, and so they stormed to the DFB-Pokal title too. On this, that facet sealed immortal standing within the Rhineland.

His departure from the Santiago Bernabeu – the place he most well-liked a 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-3 formation – says extra of Madrid’s tradition and (unreasonable) calls for than it does of his teaching, and at Liverpool, the Spanish icon would discover a metropolis and fanbase and squad extra amenable to his philosophies.

What is obvious is that Slot’s decline on the Liverpool helm predates the beginning of the 2025/26 marketing campaign. The Reds had been barely patchy towards the top of final season, missing the all-consuming vitality and incisiveness they performed with by means of the early months of Slot’s reign, blistering by means of the Premier League.

That is not the case, and if an uptick just isn’t marked quickly, Alonso might obtain a name and an invite to make an emotional reunion with the Anfield membership.

A managerial marriage between coach and membership feels destined to occur, however Alonso won’t hold about for the Reds, to make sure, leaving sporting director Richard Hughes with a doubtlessly robust determination on his fingers.

At Actual Madrid, Alonso was caught between a rock and a tough place. He might have ploughed ahead by means of the hard-packed earth, but it surely was clear he was on borrowed time.

As a substitute, he has left and can now look forward to the precise function to current itself. He may have no scarcity of suitors.

Liverpool can be proper on the entrance of the queue, to make sure, and FSG should now decide whether or not Slot is the person to guide them ahead for the long term, and contemplate whether or not this is a chance they’ll afford to move them by.