Image Credits: Imago Images
With the Mohamed Salah saga rumbling on and Liverpool fighting to be in Champions League contention in the league, the last thing Arne Slot will likely be thinking of is the January transfer window right now.
Between constant questions over Salah’s future, juggling a demanding schedule, and bedding in his ideas at Anfield, the Liverpool manager has more than enough on his plate.
Yet even in the middle of that noise, long-term planning never stops at a club like Liverpool. Scouts and analysts will be tracking options across Europe, and in Rotterdam one familiar face to Slot has suddenly become one of the most lethal finishers on the continent.
Indeed, Feyenoord and Japan striker Ayase Ueda is reportedly a name that Arne Slot likes a lot.
Ueda joined Feyenoord in the summer of 2023, during Arne Slot’s time in charge of the Rotterdam club having signed him from Cercle Brugge on a five-year deal.
Dutch pundit Hans Kraay Jr has lifted the lid on just how highly Slot rates the striker who has scored 19 goals in 21 appearances so far this season.
Previously used largely as back-up to Santiago Gimenez after an €8m move in 2023, Ueda’s transformation this season has Dutch media sitting up and taking notice.
“Misjudged, misjudged; of course, he was behind Santiago Gimenez, who was often in top form and therefore also found the net quite often,” Kraay explained as quoted by Voetbal Primeur, stressing that Ueda’s quiet start owed much to circumstance rather than a lack of quality.
“Arne Slot—credit where credit is due—has told us and me several times when we asked about Ueda’s potential.”
“We really saw that enormous potential once, last season away against Benfica in the Champions League, where he was peerless. Slot could use a pat on the back at the moment. He was right.”
” Should the Dutch watch out for the national team of Japan? Could just be, because what not many people know is that Japan has completely copied the system of Dick Schreuder at NEC,” said Kraay.
At 27 years of age, it’s highly unlikely that the Reds would make a move for Ueda.
However, it seems Slot’s talent ID has been vindicated, and hopefully the players Liverpool brought in during the summer will start to strut their stuff soon like Ueda has.
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