Liverpool boss Arne Slot has pointed to having to deal with the departures from his squad ahead of the Premier League season starting
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
The contrast to last summer couldn't be more pronounced for Liverpool. Whereas 12 months ago the focus was on maintaining the status quo in the squad given the tumult behind the scenes and among the coaching staff, now the playing options are undergoing a dramatic overhaul.
And while expectations last summer were tempered with Arne Slot following in the sizeable footsteps of Jurgen Klopp, this time around ambitions are seemingly limitless on the back of a dominant Premier League title triumph and the influx of new signings.
The revamped Reds will aim to take the first silverware on offer this season when they face Crystal Palace in the Community Shield on Sunday.
But for all the talk of £116million club record signing Florian Wirtz and recent £79m addition Hugo Ekitike, Slot has pointed to the absences with which Liverpool are having to contend.
"What I feel is not being talked about enough is that I've lost four players that have started regularly," says Slot. "And one of them, I, we, his family, lost him. That's Diogo (Jota).
"Darwin (Nunez) might be on the verge of leaving. Luis Diaz was a definite starter and Trent (Alexander-Arnold) was a definite starter.
"So normally in the Premier League teams only buy and never sell. We do both. I also forget to mention Caoimhin Kelleher and Jarell Quansah, who played quite a lot of minutes, so that makes four regular starters and two players that played a lot."
Indeed, those six players made a combined total of almost 150 Premier League appearances last season whereas, of the raft of new arrivals, only Milos Kerkez has experience playing in the competition.
And while well-versed in losing leading players during his time managing in his native Netherlands, Slot regards it unusual Liverpool are now without so many regular starters.
"In Holland it's completely normal, because there are levels above Feyenoord or AZ Alkmaar where I worked before," says the Reds boss. "So if you do good as a team, players always go.
"At a club like Liverpool, there's no level above, so it's not that common that players leave. In the last five or six years, not many players have left this club, let alone for big transfer fees.
"We have lost players in a good phase of their career. I'm used to that.
"But as I always say, especially the players that haven't played a lot last season, and there were a few, I think it's always good for them to find new challenges, because for a second year not to play a lot, that's always really difficult, to keep going on the training ground.
"And one of the things I find really important is that we can train every day on a high level, and you must not have players that are too disappointed that they don't play, because then the level drops.
"So that's why I think it's good for us, but also for Jarell that he found a club where he's hopefully going to play every single minute, because another time, being behind Ibou (Konate) and Virgil (van Dijk) would probably mentally be quite difficult for him."
Of course, the first real examination of Slot's new-look team will come in the Premier League opener at home to Bournemouth on Friday although, with more than three weeks remaining of the transfer window, more movement is expected in and out of the squad.
And the Liverpool boss is reserving judgement on the improvement provided by his new charges.
"That is something I can only tell you on September 1," says Slot. "The players we've brought in have done already really well but I cannot tell you now if these players are able to perform at the same level every three days. I did know that Luis Diaz was able to do that, and all the other ones were able to do that.
"For Milos Kerkez, it's going to be his first time probably at this level he might have to play every three days. Florian Wirtz comes from the Bundesliga, where he was used to playing every three or four days, but we have to ask him in two months if the intensity levels of the Premier League are comparable.
"In terms of talent and the quality we've brought in, we see that we have a very good team again. The ones that have left were almost the whole season fit - will the ones that we brought in do the same? There are multiple factors you need to take into account.
"I am really happy with the players we've brought in. But we've also lost starters that have had a big impact on our title-winning season last year."