Liverpool has moved early ahead of a big summer in the transfer market, and former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has admitted he has been impressed with some "incredible" moves.
Florian Wirtz, the Bayer Leverkusen and Germany attacking midfielder, is being chased, while Jeremie Frimpong has already arrived. Trent Alexander-Arnold, meanwhile, moved to Real Madrid early for a transfer fee, despite his contract expiring in just a few weeks.
"Honestly, no, I mean, I’m stunned by [Alexander-Arnold] really," Neville said on the It's Called Soccer podcast. "There is £100 million ($135 million) at stake in this World Club Championship, and Real Madrid have got a great chance of doing it.
"So you imagine if he plays in this tournament, they haven’t got a right back that’s playing there naturally at this moment in time. So it could be money well spent in four or five weeks.
"I just find it crazy that you’re spending £10 million ($13.5 million) to have a player for five, six games. It’s incredible."
In terms of Wirtz and Frimpong, Liverpool would be getting a great duo there as well, which could go a long way to replacing Alexander-Arnold's creativity. And others including Milos Kerkez could be on their way too.
Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen.
Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen. (Image: Ronny Hartmann/Getty Images)
"I think when you’re talking about winning the league, what is it that improves you?" Neville said. "I mean, the only thing that’s going to improve you when you win the league is signing world-class players, or players that have got the potential to be world-class players.
"So signing Florian Wirtz is fantastic. Jeremie Frimpong and then there’s talk of Milos Kerkez as well, deals with their right and left back situations.
"So to get those three done, if they were to get those three done quite quickly, would be smart business. But I wouldn’t have expected anything else from Liverpool.
"Maybe slightly surprised that they’ve gone so heavy on Wirtz in terms of the fee. They don’t normally go that big, but Slot deserves it, by the way. He waited 12 months for a player to sign."
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Last summer, Slot only brought in Federico Chiesa from Juventus. The Italian winger has played under 500 minutes since and was snapped up for a bargain price of just $13 million (£10 million).
"I work every day with a Liverpool program to be at my best for the tests on July 8," Chiesa has told Gazzetta dello Sport. July 8 is the date when Slot and his players will reconvene on Merseyside for pre-season.
"Juventus? I still love the club. Returning there one day? Why not..." Chiesa added. "Thiago Motta didn’t want me there. He told me that I was not part of his plans, and should go find a team."
Liverpool.com says: It is definitely shaping up to be a fascinating summer at Anfield. Frimpong is exciting but Wirtz would be another level entirely, and there should be more on top of that too.