31/05/2026

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Liverpool sack manager Slot

LIVERPOOL have sacked manager Arne Slot (pic) after a disappointing defence of their Premier League title, the club announced yesterday. The Dutchman, who replaced Jurgen Klopp in 2024 after a successful spell at Feyenoord, enjoyed a dream first season at Anfield by guiding Liverpool to the Premier League crown. However, his second campaign ended in disappointment as the Reds slipped to fifth place and failed to win a domes tic trophy. Liverpool confirmed Slot would leave his role with imme diate effect, saying the club had decided a change was nec essary. “That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying,” Liverpool said in a statement. “The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC has been significant, meaningful and – most importantly of all to sup porters and ourselves – successful.” The club praised Slot for embracing the challenge of suc ceeding Klopp and for delivering the Premier League title in his debut season. “This was evident when he agreed to take over as head coach, when he guided us to the Premier League title and throughout the season just ended when he faced considerable challenges,” the statement said. “At the same time, we have collectively come to the con clusion that change is necessary in order for the club to keep moving forward.” Liverpool’s title defence unravelled amid inconsistent per formances, leaving them battling for Champions League qualification rather than competing for major honours. Liverpool said the search for a successor is under way, with reports linking Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola to the vacancy after leading the club to a sixth-place finish and Europa League qualification for the first time. – Reuters/AFP

The Konate conundrum Two problems created by centreback’s surprise Liverpool exit BY RICHARD JOLLY

Divock Origi all went for free; include Konate and their combined cost comes to around £130 million (RM676m). There are financial aspects; footballing ones, too. There are times this season when it seemed Liverpool would scarcely miss Konate; at Leeds in December, in comments that were soon overshadowed by Salah’s, Slot admitted that the Frenchman was “too much at the crime scene” as his mistakes multiplied. He had a better, though far from flaw less, second half of the season and demon strated a commitment to the cause by returning early from compassionate leave after the death of his father. In five seasons, he has had two very good campaigns: his first in 2021-22, cul minating in him playing in the Champions League final, and Slot’s first, in 2024-25, when Konate believed his partnership with Van Dijk was the best in Europe. Perhaps that informed his salary demands and it will be instructive where Konate lands next; perhaps not a club of Liverpool’s level. But, after beginning Slot’s reign on the bench, he became a fix ture in the side. He began 66 of Liverpool’s last 75 League games. In that respect, he leaves a hole next to an ever more overworked Van Dijk as Liverpool’s rebuilding job has grown bigger. – The Independent

two; Yan Diomande of RB Leipzig is a tar get but will not be cheap. That Konate was able to ask for a size able sum after a season in which Liverpool conceded too many goals reflects other financial issues at Anfield. They had the largest wage bill in England last season; they might have done this year, too. The supersized salaries granted to a few – Salah, Van Dijk, Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak – may have empowered others to ask for more. It creates a further issue when Isak is not justifying his pay packet. Liverpool have a self-sustaining model, as Slot likes to say. They have banked almost £300 million (RM1.56b) in fees in his reign. But Konate is a £36 million (RM187m) signing leaving on a free transfer; while talks about a new deal began as far back as 2023, when the director of football was Jorg Schmadtke, Richard Hughes’ prede cessor, he has ended up running down his deal. But Liverpool may feel that too many players have left in recent years without them recouping a fee; some, like Salah, Robertson, James Milner, Adam Lallana and Thiago Alcantara, were in their thir ties and, in the cases of the first three, gave such good service Liverpool could have few regrets. But Gini Wijnaldum, Naby Keita and

tain will turn 35 in July. Jacquet is just 20, Leoni only 19. They have one game in English football between them, which ended in the former Parma player being stretchered off with a cruciate ligament injury which might mean he is not fully fit for the start of the season. Then there is Gomez, no stranger to injuries himself; if he had a flawless fitness record, the Englishman may have begun more often when Konate was in indiffer ent form. Once again, Liverpool could lament let ting Marc Guehi slip through their grasp last summer: the month while they waited, doing nothing, before putting in a bid on deadline day looks still more wasteful now. Guehi ended up at Manchester City four months later. At 25, he is at the peak of his powers. Konate’s have wavered somewhat but his age made him crucial in Liverpool’s succession planning. And, yet again, the task for next season after they spent £450 million (RM2.3b) has grown. If not Gomez, they require a fourth central defender, and one on lesser wages than Konate demanded. But Hugo Ekitike’s achilles injury and Salah’s exit means much of the funds will have to be spent on the forward line. There is a need for at least one winger, perhaps

SO it transpires there was a farewell with out fanfare. Arne Slot substituted two who were leaving Liverpool on Sunday, allow ing Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson their ovations from the Anfield crowd. When Ibrahima Konate went off in the 89th minute, the temptation was to assume it permitted Joe Gomez a fine outing in Liverpool red. Their longest-serving player has a year left on his contract, but admit ted he is unsure if he will remain at the club. Slot seemed to have a full complement of centrebacks for next season; after all, Konate had said he was close to signing a new deal. Not that close, perhaps. The draw with Brentford proved Konate’s goodbye. He will instead exit Liverpool next month. The two parties were too far part in their valuations. The gap became unbridgeable. And while Konate ranked on the lengthy list of Liverpool’s undera chievers this season, their problems have been compounded. They have bought two centrebacks who they deem the best young players in their position in Italy and France, in Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet respectively. They have the best in the world over the last decade, in Virgil van Dijk. But the cap

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