Liverpool won the Premier League a month ago, securing their 20th domestic league title and climbing back up on their perch as the most successful club in the history of English football. They had to wait until the final week of the season, though, to actually lift up the trophy.
At Anfield, in front of a crowd more concerned with celebrations than the outcome of the match itself, they drew 1-1 with a Crystal Palace side themselves just off the high of winning the FA Cup. And then they got to the important bit. The silverware and the celebration.
“Less pressure than four weeks ago when we had to win to get a celebration,” manager Arne Slot reflected after the match and season that made him the first Dutch trainer to win the Premier League—in his first season in charge after taking over from legendary manager Jürgen Klopp, no less.
“Now we knew we would [celebrate]. The energy, how loud the fans were, the way the game ended going down to 10 men and seeing such a great reaction from the players and the fans which led to, in my opinion, a deserved goal. These players and fans hate losing and showed it again.”
Now, officially, the season is over and a well deserved break begins—though the players haven’t exactly hidden they’ve been celebrating their title for much of the past month. The club, too, have clearly had an eye on the future and 2025-26’s title defence for some time.
There will be new signings, with right back Jeremie Frimpong widely believed to be signed from Bayern Leverkusen already. Club teammate Florian Wirtz is expected to join him at the defending Premier League champions. Many expect Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez isn’t far behind, either.
There will be improvements expected from the players who were key to this season’s success, too—at least outside of departing Trent Alexander-Arnold—and already it’s clear the goal will be more silverware. Never an easy task, but Slot and this group have shown they’re up for a fight.
“Hopefully their appetite will be big,” Slot added. “We will see when pre-season starts and when we start again. A few of them have already shown they can win multiple times, the ones who have won the league and Champions League here before and keep performing year after year.
“A few now won the league for the first time and have to show they have the same mentality as the ones that have won it here before. So I’m looking forward to being part of that. We know it’s going to be tough again. It’s going be just as tough or even tougher next season.
“The clubs we competed with this season have in every window always invested a lot of money and are probably going to do so this summer as well, so we will see what the team needs. We can do things better ourselves without adding any players, but if we can we will definitely do so.”