Why Liverpool are backing Arne Slot to lead them into next season after 'noisy' campaign
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The ECHO's Liverpool FC correspondent takes a closer look at what will be a huge period in the tenure of Arne Slot as head coachAs the end of an era approaches at Liverpool, it looks increasingly likely that it will be Arne Slot who will lead the next one.Now with a seven-point buffer between them and a Chelsea side in freefall, the Reds can extend their advantage over the Londoners to 10 with victory against Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon.Chelsea's 3-0 loss to Brighton on Tuesday night - their fifth successive reverse without scoring - means it is Fabian Hurzeler's side who now represent the most credible threat to Slot's team and their remaining objective of qualifying for next season's Champions League.Seventeen defeats across all competitions, including 10 in a league they won last season, have placed Slot's position under intense scrutiny. The popular Portuguese's absence has cast a long shadow over this campaign behind the scenes and grief counsellors have been called to the club's AXA Training Centre at times to help with those struggling to come to terms with those unimaginably tragic circumstances.Injuries have also been an issue with Giovanni Leoni, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and most recently Hugo Ekitike all suffering season-ending setbacks.
The match-going element of Liverpool's worldwide fanbase has grown weary.But Liverpool spent nearly six months looking for Jurgen Klopp's successor and having won the title in his first year, those in charge want to give Slot a chance to prove their exhaustive recruitment search was correct. This suggests Liverpool will likely change the profile of the player they deploy on the right side of their attack next season.The protracted and expensive pursuit of Isak sometimes descended into a tawdry saga involving the player himself and Newcastle, with the striker effectively going on striker to force through a move, which was only confirmed on transfer deadline day back on September 1.And given the efforts to take him from the grip of Newcastle's owners, who were determined not to sell - and the astronomical cost to bring him to Merseyside - getting the best from Sweden international Isak now takes priority.Yan Diomande, of RB Leipzig is thought to be a Reds target with sources in Germany telling the ECHO this week that they believe contact with the winger's Roc Nation agency, who he has been with since last year, has already been made.Nineteen-year-old Diomande has enjoyed an excellent campaign at Leipzig, with 12 goals and six assists in 29 games to date.
According to reports in Germany, those kinds of performances have set the bidding to begin at around €100m (£86m).It's unclear if Liverpool have the appetite to spend those kinds of figures once more on individual players, having forked out around £440m last summer - which was described as "three windows in one" - but at 19, Diomande is widely viewed as one of the most exciting teenagers in European football right now.Slot spoke after the Champions League exit last week of a 'sell-to-buy' policy at the club and the idea of a similar splurge to last summer's has been played down by many, even if they secure the Champions League funding. This season, the squad has proven woefully thin for a club with the Premier League's highest wage bill.There is work to be done but it appears as though it will be Slot who will get the chance to prove season one was the rule and season two was the exception.