Arne Slot explains why he can succeed at Liverpool after ‘good advice’ from Jurgen Klopp

“For anyone who loves football it was a fantastic era to see them enjoying each other. I’ve seen a lot of Liverpool games, a lot of City games as well, and when you live in Europe, the Premier League is probably the most beautiful league to follow.

“Jurgen has done a fantastic job here and I’m very happy with that as a fan, but now as his successor he’s left Liverpool in the best possible way.”

Slot rose to prominence at Feyenoord, winning the Dutch title in 2023 and the Dutch Cup last season. The Dutchman says he has taken inspiration from Klopp and Guardiola and believes their high-attacking, possession-based football is the only way to play.

“We are all inspired by Guardiola and Klopp and at a big club, where I also worked at Feyenoord, it is probably the only style you can play,” he said.

“To have the ball a lot, to have a lot of energy, and now there are comparisons between the club I left and the club I will work for now.”

Slot claims Klopp gave him some “good advice” when they spoke and thanked him for saying he would be his biggest fan. “He gave me more than some good advice,” he said. “But what stood out for me was – and he said this in the press too – he’s going to be my biggest fan from now on because he supports Liverpool in the best possible way and you don’t see that very frequently.

“That says a lot about his character.”

Slot is happy to be Liverpool’s first head coach instead of manager and says it allows him to focus on working with the players. He contacted them and joked that it was easy to talk to captain Virgil van Dijk because they spoke Dutch.