Arne Slot assessed his Liverpool side after the friendly double-header against Athletic Bilbao
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot.(Image: Ryan Crockett/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Arne Slot has suggested Florian Wirtz can replace Trent Alexander-Arnold as a major Liverpool creative force after the record signing enjoying a first Anfield outing for his new club. Wirtz was an impressive performer in helping the Reds beat Athletic Bilbao 3-2 in the second of their friendly double-header against the Spanish side on Monday evening.
The 22-year-old, a £116million arrival from Bayer Leverkusen this summer, was afforded a strong ovation from the home crowd on his substitution during the second half.
And Slot has backed the Germany international to help fill void left by Alexander-Arnold’s departure to Real Madrid after the end of last season.
“There is always room for improvement in every department,” said the Reds boss. “We have added a few extra weapons.
“Florian has a lot of creativity in the final third. We have lost with Trent a lot of creativity from the back, Trent’s crosses and picking out runners was so special.
“I think Florian has this quality as well in a totally different position but he brings that creativity.”
Wirtz was one of five summer signings to start the second friendly, joining striker Hugo Ekitike, goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and full-backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong.
Ekitike was making only his second pre-season appearance since signing from Eintracht Frankfurt for an initial £69million, and created the first goal for Mohamed Salah.
And Slot added: “We have lost two quality players with Diogo (Jota) and Luis Diaz, but we have added Hugo – definitely a player that is going to be a very good player for us. Rio (Ngumoha) has been showing good things every time in pre-season.
“The pace of Hugo, the pace of both full-backs, Milos and Jeremie today.
“You need to make in everything you do the next step because our competitors are not sitting still as well. They are trying to improve as well and made a lot of signings like we all have done. So it’s going to be a really interesting Premier League.”
Cody Gakpo scored twice either side of netting an own goal to ensure Liverpool a double triumph after a largely second-string team beat their Bilbao equivalent 4-1 earlier in the evening with teenagers Ngumoha and Ben Doak notching along with Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott.
“In both games we created a lot of chances, scored seven goals, four in the first game and three in the second,” said Slot.
“So that’s very pleasing to see because we definitely didn’t score with every chance we had, especially in the second game, in the first half we could have scored a few more goals.
“That pleased me most, the ability to create the chances and to score seven goals over two games is also good.”