Liverpool’s recruitment of rising stars will put the club on a sure footing for years to come, according to manager Arne Slot despite a difficult season for the Premier League champions.
The Reds sit sixth in the Premier League after a difficult start to life at Anfield for a number of new recruits in a near £450 million ($616 million) spending spree in the summer transfer market.
Highly-rated French defender Jeremy Jacquet will also join for the start of next season after Liverpool agreed a deal with Rennes worth up to £60 million for the 20-year-old.
“Such a big talent and another example of the model we’re using at this club,” Slot said on Thursday.
“Young, very talented players, sometimes at the start of their careers or sometimes already a little bit a few years into their career, but always players that are young and can improve us in the short term but also definitely in the long term.
“We’ve signed a lot of them recently and the mid-long term future of this club, and even the short term, is in a very good place.”
Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz are two of the club’s big money signings that are beginning to deliver returns on the near £200 million invested in signing them from the Bundesliga.
Ekitike scored twice in a 4-1 win over Newcastle last weekend to take his tally for the season to 15, while Wirtz has netted six times in 10 matches since ending a 22-game wait for his first Liverpool goal.
“As a manager, even if he is struggling a little bit at the start, you have to keep playing him because that is the only way he can improve,” said Slot on Wirtz finding his feet in the Premier League.
“He didn’t improve that much on the ball because from the start he was special. Maybe now he has a better connection with his teammates because they’ve played more and more together.
“Off the ball is where I see the biggest improvement with him, and some others, and that combination makes you ready for the Premier League.”
Liverpool host Manchester City on Sunday in a match with huge ramifications for the title race and the battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
City trail leaders Arsenal by six points and could find themselves nine adrift by the time they kick off with the Gunners hosting Sunderland on Saturday.
Liverpool could also be four points outside the top five, which should secure a place in the Champions League, should Manchester United and Chelsea win on Saturday.
Slot is keen to make amends for his side’s 3-0 defeat to City in November.
“They were the better team and I think we want to show a different side of us this time.”
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