Arne Slot has Liverpool dilemma he’ll need help from Richard Hughes to solve | Football | Sport
Arne Slot‘s focus is very much on the present. Yet slowly but surely, while the Liverpool manager has so much to concentrate on in the short term, the long-term future will soon become a major point of discussion again.
Business in the January transfer window is unlikely but the club’s recruitment staff will already be thinking ahead to the summer. Slot is being asked weekly about the contract situations of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
It remains unclear how many, if any, of those three will still be at Anfield next season. If any of them leave, huge investment will obviously be needed. But even if all three stay, there could be some significant reshuffling in the forward line.
Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota will both enter the final two years of their contracts this summer, while Darwin Nunez does not appear an adequate technical fit to Slot’s more measured style of play. It is not infeasible that two or even three forwards could leave this summer.
Nunez is the prime candidate to depart. The 25-year-old is a tireless presser but does not have the finesse a centre-forward under Slot requires.
From 18 goals and 13 assists in 54 games under Jurgen Klopp last term, the frustrating Uruguayan has just four goals and three assists in 23 games this term. At his current pace, he stands to finish on nine goals and seven assists if he makes 54 appearances like last year.
By contrast, Diaz already has 11g and 3a and Cody Gakpo has 10g and 4a from half that many appearances. Diogo Jota’s season has been heavily interrupted by injury but he has 5g and 2a.
If Liverpool wish to be consistent challengers under Slot, they will need to ensure they are not so reliant on Salah to come up with the goods every game in future campaigns. Gakpo is becoming increasingly important while Diaz’s output has improved considerably.
But Nunez has not shown sufficient improvement and it appears it would be best for all parties for him to be sold in the summer. Federico Chiesa’s Liverpool career has yet to get going due to injuries and similarly, while Jota is one of the most clinical finishers in Europe, he cannot be depended on due to his dire injury record.
Having just turned 28 and in need of a new long-term contract if he is to stay, Liverpool must decide whether to sell this summer – or in 2025 – or gamble against Jota’s poor fitness and tie him down to Anfield for two or three more years beyond that.
Is his predatory finishing worth the likelihood that he will miss 10-to-20 matches per season? Since playing 55 times in 2021-22, he has only played 74 times from a possible 136 in the last two-and-a-half seasons.
And Slot will need plenty of assistance from sporting director Richard Hughes and the scouting department as they plot the path forward for the attack. Keeping Salah becomes doubly as important if Nunez or Jota – or both – are to leave in 2025.
Diaz is also out of contract in two years’ time and will turn 28 on January 13. Again, there is a decision to be made on whether he’s given a new and improved contract or whether he’s sold in the next 12 months – with Barcelona long-time admirers but cash strapped.
So while Liverpool have the fiercest attack in the Premier League this season – it is not without its issues, and its long-term dilemmas. Slot and Hughes have much to ponder, and they’ll be keen to ensure the club’s eventual reshaping of their attack goes as well as the midfield rebuild has.
