From sorting Salah’s future to wooing the Kop: Slot’s

The Dutch coach will take over an elite club with an excellent squad, but faces plenty of big decisions this summer

Managers are seldom hired to take over a well-run, elite-level club not in urgent need of repair or transformation. Liverpool in 2024 represents one of those rare opportunities. Despite a disappointing end to his reign, Jürgen Klopp has bequeathed to his successor a fine squad, of a relatively young age, that developed faster than expected into a contender for the Premier League title, that knows how to win silverware and will be back in the Champions League next season after a one-year hiatus. And, as the Carabao Cup triumph demonstrated, there is a healthy flow of young talent rolling off the academy production line too. The internal structure of the club is also in good shape. There is no need to rip it up and start again, as David Moyes attempted to do when succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. Liverpool’s recruitment search led them to Arne Slot because he offers a degree of continuity in playing style, among other attributes, but of course he must make his own modifications. Change is welcome, inevitable, but revolution on the playing side is not required. That being said …