Arne Slot may be denied the chance to work with six Liverpool players | Football | Sports

Liverpool boss Arne Slot could be denied the opportunity to work with six Reds players if they secure transfers away from Anfield before the start of pre-season training. The Dutchman began his career in the Liverpool dugout on Saturday after agreeing to succeed Jurgen Klopp.

Slot swapped Feyenoord for Liverpool after Klopp ended his association with the Reds at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

And he will be desperate to make his mark in English football after his predecessor won the Champions League, Premier League, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

Slot will need to build the squad he wants at Anfield if he is to emulate Klopp in the coming years. But some players may follow their former boss out before even setting their sights on their new manager.

Defender Sepp van den Berg could be the first to leave after telling De Telegraaf at the end of his loan spell with Mainz: “(Liverpool) have not exuded confidence in me all this time, but you want to prevent my future.

“I want to keep playing every week and keep developing. In Germany I enjoy (Borussia) Dortmund away with 70,000 people, Bayern Munich away against Harry Kane, Stuttgart, (RB) Leipzig, (Bayer) Leverkusen. Against clubs like that I’m challenged every week.”

He could be joined on the departures list by back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who is trying to establish himself as No.1 elsewhere, as well as left-back Kostas Tsimikas, who was kept out of the squad by Joe Gomez when Andy Robertson was unavailable.

Meanwhile, 23-year-old ace Rhys Williams looks unlikely to get closer to the Liverpool first team after being on loan at Port Vale last season and could decide to cut his losses as soon as possible.

Fellow centre-back Nat Phillips will not be confident of game time in the Slot either after temporary spells with Celtic and Cardiff.