Arne Slot may have won the Premier League in his first campaign at Liverpool, but Jamie Carragher does not believe the Dutchman will be granted the same power as Jurgen Klopp
Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool will not grant Arne Slot the same power as they gave Jurgen Klopp and will sell players if they receive a good offer. Slot, 46, is now putting plans in place for his first title defence.
Having already secured the services of Jeremie Frimpong, the Reds could soon see Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez arrive from Bayer Leverkusen and Bournemouth respectively. The Liverpool manager was only able to sign Federico Chiesa in his first two transfer windows, but the Dutchman is being heavily backed in this window.
However, while numerous players look set to come through the door at Anfield, the likes of Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz have been linked with an exit.
Bayern Munich are rumoured to be interested in Gakpo, while Barcelona sporting director Deco has publicly said he is an admirer of Diaz. While Carragher feels Klopp would have been able to block the exit of a Liverpool player if he wanted to keep them, he does not feel Slot has the same influence.
While speaking on the Overlap, Carragher said: “We know a little bit of what’s gone on behind the scenes. They’ve brought all the old transfer people back if you like. They had a falling out with Klopp, but they’re back now running the club.
“The great thing they built with Klopp, this great team and then they moved away as Klopp got more power. I think players who have been legends for the club and won the biggest trophies, were given contracts and were allowed to stay at Liverpool longer, too long basically.
“That’s why Liverpool fell off for a little bit and then came back. I think the way they want to run Liverpool is that they are not going to sell their absolute best players.
“But a Diaz or a Gakpo, who are good players, they wouldn’t want to sell them, but if someone made them an offer, that they think ‘That’s more than what we think (they are worth)’ I think that’s the way it will be run now, it will be like ‘Oh no, he’s gone and we back ourselves to go again’.
“That’s what I mean in terms of those getting linked. I’m like ‘No you wouldn’t want to sell those’ but they are probably thinking, ‘If you offer us enough money we will do it’. I think the club will be like that now.”
Liverpool recently had a £109million offer for Wirtz rejected, as the Bundesliga giants are believed to be demanding £125m. Such a move would break the Premier League transfer record, which is currently held by Chelsea, when they signed Moises Caicedo for £115m.
But while an unprecedented summer of Liverpool spending could soon take place under Slot, Carragher feels the Dutchman will not have as much control as Klopp did.
Carragher added: “Arne Slot is called the head coach. He’s the first head coach in Liverpool history.
“Even though he has won the league in his first season, I don’t think they’re going to allow what happened with Jurgen Klopp, where he was making these bigger decisions and he was a god and everyone loves him.
“I think there could be a few surprises who may go if Liverpool get offered the right money.”
