‘A few of them will go…’ – Arne Slot hints at culling of Liverpool squad after American tour
Arne Slot has now had four games to assess the players in his Liverpool squad, and he dispensed plenty of game-time to virtually everyone who featured in the pre-season tour to USA.
However, with the Reds now back on Merseyside – where the remaining first-teamers who didn’t travel to the U.S. have now reconvened – the start of the campaign proper has come firmly into focus for the 45-year-old.
As per The Athletic, the Dutchman has confirmed that a handful of academy youngsters who travelled with the senior group will now be released back to their underage squads, with the full complement (barring a couple of minor injury concerns) in situ at the AXA Training Centre.
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Slot said: “I think other clubs have more players than us but it depends on who you are counting. If you are counting all the youngsters on the tour then there are many, but a few of them will go back to the under-21s or under-18s so I don’t think we have too many.”
The new head coach is satisfied that he has two players for every position in his squad, saying: “In most positions we have double and that is completely normal…For me, we have a normal amount of players, especially if you play all these cup games and we have to play more Champions League games this season.”
It’s common practice during pre-season to see a smattering of academy youngsters being drafted into the senior squad, particularly during a summer in which many first-team players were involved in the latter stages of major tournaments with their countries.
When Liverpool first convened in July, there were as many as 11 first-teamers still away with their nations or on holiday, so Slot essentially had his hand forced in terms of supplementing the group with a few of the underage hopefuls.
Euro 2024 and Copa America notwithstanding, he’d probably have wanted to cast an eye over as many players as possible in his first summer at the club in any case, and he’s now been able to get a good handle on which of the youngsters could be handed minutes at senior level this season.
Circumstances could yet require the Dutchman to delve into the under-21 ranks throughout the campaign, as was the case for Jurgen Klopp in 2023/24, but at least now he has a strong idea of which individuals are best placed to make the step up.
Hopefully the next 12 months will see another couple of viable first-team options emerge in the same manner that Jarell Quansah and Conor Bradley have done over the past year.
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