Arne Slot breaks down how the recruitment model works at Liverpool following the £60m capture of Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes
Arne Slot speaks with sporting director Richard Hughes after lifting the Premier League title last season
Arne Slot speaks with sporting director Richard Hughes after lifting the Premier League title last season(Image: Kieran McManus/REX/Shutterstock)
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For a club who have generally, over the last decade or so, subscribed to the idea that less is more in the transfer market, the arrival of Jeremy Jacquet this summer will take Liverpool's spending past £500m in two years.
The 20-year-old centre-back will join from Rennes for £60m after an agreement was reached late in the winter window earlier this week. Add that to last summer's overhaul alongside the 2024 capture of Federico Chiesa from Juventus, and the Reds have now spent around £510m, inclusive of add-ons.
It's quite the sum for a head coach and sporting director team who have only been at the club, officially, since June 1 of 2024. But if there was one major takeaway from the latest 'Reds Roundtable' episode this week it is that Arne Slot and Richard Hughes are most certainly in alignment on the big, overarching strategies at Anfield.
Those at Liverpool, particularly Slot, will always counteract the money spent on their watch by referencing the income of a big summer window that saw around £230m returned to the coffers.
The £35m agreement struck with Aston Villa to take Harvey Elliott on loan on transfer deadline day, however, looks unlikely to be banked at this stage.
The imminent arrival of Jacquet is proof of the Reds' ongoing commitment to future-proofing and planning for the mid to long-term and while Slot conceded that he was craving reinforcements for the remainder of this season before the window closed, the boss has attempted to outline how recruitment department work in what is still a relatively new-look setup behind the scenes.
"If it (the Reds' Roundtable) has helped for people to understand not only I say it but the situation because they caught that synergy or whatever, then it is a good thing," Slot says.
"I can keep saying it but the moment you see it you probably believe it more. I don’t know what the reaction is [from the fans].
"I said many times, how good his (Hughes) work has been in the last one and a half to two years. This is shown in the signings he made and another time now with Jeremy Jacquet. He’s done a great job for the club but also for me.
"Let’s start again by saying that we have signed a lot but a lot have left as well. That is not only Richard and me. That is a big club and a club that is run in a way, a lot of people put a lot of work into it.
"We do not think let’s sign a player tomorrow and we will start with it today. The work that goes into that is so detailed in this club that there is a long, long period to go.
"I don’t watch a football match and say: 'Oh, he’s a good player, why don’t we try to sign him?'
"That’s not the way we work over here, there is a lot of data and scouting involved and then a list is brought down to one, two or three players and then that is the moment that I get also involved.
"There are a lot of talks. If we do a signing, that is never one week’s work let’s put it that way. A lot of work goes into it all within the constraints of the model we have at this club."