Slot says Liverpool changes will not be drastic
Arne Slot has revealed his Liverpool team will undergo a transition in the off-season, but he insists it will not be as drastic as 12 months ago.
Liverpool spent a reported £450 million ($846 million) after its Premier League title success in Slot's first season in charge, but many of those arrivals have yet to match their pricetags.
Both Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz broke the British transfer record, while Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong also came in for large fees.
The Reds' average age in the squad is 26, but that is set to fall after both Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson confirmed they would be leaving at the end of the season.
Last week, Salah said that "the bond of the team is changing, so I really hope the guys hold it together", although Slot argued the unity between the players was still intact.
"Indeed, it will be another little transition, probably not as drastic as it was last summer, but we have to change a bit of personnel because of the players who are leaving," Slot said.
"There is a difference between bonding and mentality. When it comes to bonding, it makes complete sense that players who have played six, seven, eight, nine years together have more bonding than when there are a group of players that are new with each other.
"When it comes to mentality, I think this team has shown many times this season that when we were in difficult circumstances – even last week at [Manchester] United being 2-0 down at half-time.
"Again, they showed the mentality to come back into the game and when we were back in the game at 2-2, we probably deserved to get the third goal, which we didn't get, which has also happened many times this season."
Liverpool knows four points from its remaining three games will clinch a spot in the UEFA Champions League next season, an achievement that could prove key in attracting new faces to Anfield.
It faces Chelsea this weekend and will be looking to bounce back from a 3-2 defeat to Manchester United, its 11th loss of the Premier League season, its most since losing 12 games in the 2014-2015 campaign under Brendan Rodgers.
The Reds' chances against Chelsea could be helped by the returns of Isak and Giorgi Mamardashvili from injury, but Slot confirmed that both Salah and Alisson would have to wait a little longer before coming back into the side.
"Alex [Iask] trained with us again, only for the first time, yesterday. So that is a positive. Yesterday he did parts of it [training]," Slot said.
"Hopefully he can do parts or all of it. Then we will see how much we can use him.
"Alisson is not yet. He hasn't trained with us yet but is very close. Mamardashvili will train with us today for the first time, so let's see how he is going to react.
"Mo also hasn't trained with us yet but is also getting very, very close to training with us."
