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Andy Robertson and Mo Salah will depart Liverpool at the end of the season.
Arne Slot has suggested Liverpool will not deviate from their recruitment model to replace the experience of Mo Salah and Andy Robertson.
Both Reds legends have announced they will depart Anfield at the end of the season. The pair have helped Liverpool win eight major trophies since their respective 2017 arrivals from AS Roma and Hull City. Salah, who is the Reds’ third all-time top goalscorer, is walking away with a year left on his contract while Robertson has opted not to sign a new deal.
The duo are big characters in the Liverpool dressing room, with Robertson vice-captain and Salah setting impeccable standards around the training ground. But they are aged 32 and 33 respectively and Liverpool’s preferred way of buying players are those still to hit their peak around 24 and younger.
And Slot, speaking ahead of the Premier League fixture against Fulham, suggested that is how the Reds will look to fill the void of the duo. The Liverpool head coach told reporters: “Our model is completely clear. That is not to say we cannot make an exception because the club signed Wataru Endo and maybe Federico Chiesa was a little bit above the age we usually sign.
“I don’t think that if this club has been successful the way we are having, we are going to change our model completely after a season that has not been so great. Especially because in the 16 years they are here, they have not won the league 16 times. There were more seasons where results were not as expected but they have always kept the same model which I signed for, which Richard [Hughes] signed for and which we are all aligned for.”
Slot heads into the Fulham clash under intense pressure. Despite winning the Premier League in his maiden campaign, Liverpool are just fifth and they face a battle to secure Champions League qualification. They have lost 16 matches in all competitions, most recently suffering a 2-0 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
The fact that Liverpool won the title last season after the departure of Jurgen Klopp surprised plenty - and Slot reckons that it ‘postponed’ the end of an era. He added: “This is one of the things we are aligned on – not now, but one and a half years ago.
“It is normal in football that you have cycles. I’m really happy that Mo and Robbo have worked with all of the signings we did last summer because they have been able to see what the club means to them and how hard they work. That is a normal process at successful clubs, or any club, that there is an end to a cycle. That’s not something that is new to us. The great thing is that we maybe postponed that cycle with last season.”
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