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 coach
16:47, 22 Apr 2026Updated 17:16, 22 Apr 2026
Arne Slot will be around to lead Liverpool next season(Image: Getty Images)
As 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. Patience has worn thin on the terraces at times, with boos heard at Anfield in home draws with Burnley and Tottenham Hotspur.
FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo’s dedicated LFC Facebook page
Club owners Fenway Sports Group have always intended to give Slot enough opportunity to turn things around after a number of difficult spells this term and with five games to spare, and as intimated by Reds legend Jamie Carragher, it seems as though the head coach will be allowed to put things right from the summer, should the European Cup be on the agenda next season.
There has been a belief from those in key positions at Anfield that this campaign was always going to be exacting. The high turnover of playing staff, which saw the club recoup around half of a £440m spend has led to several new arrivals taking time to adapt on Merseyside.
The sudden and shock death of Diogo Jota, in July, is also factored into the thinking. 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. Alexander Isak, a £125m capture from Newcastle last year, was also sidelined for four months with a broken leg. Liverpool have also had to adjust to an unexpected drop-off from Mohamed Salah, who accused the club of being “thrown under the bus” during an explosive post-match outburst at Leeds United in early December.
The reasons for the dip in form is not explained neatly or succinctly but performances have been alarming. Slot has been unable to get a championship squad purring, with only a handful of displays befitting a team who won the title by 10 points just 11 months ago. For all the extenuating circumstances, the head coach has remained under fire because of that.
But FSG, its CEO of football Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes are said to remain unwavering in their backing of Slot, even if the Dutchman heads into the summer months with just a year left on the deal he signed in 2024. The action of signing a new deal would speaker louder than any words of support, however.
“Results are noisy” is a phrase heard behind the scenes when discussing Liverpool but there can be little pushback against the idea that performances have rarely met the standard expected at Anfield and while the club’s supporter-base pride themselves on the backing they give their managers in tough periods, it must be stressed that the criticism is not consigned only to social media either. 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. Last year’s scenes will suggest the former Feyenoord boss has already done that, but the reserves of goodwill have unquestionably started to evaporate for many. Getting that back remains critical.
Those at Anfield have spoken about the lack of a like-for-like replacement on the market for Salah, who leaves next month, and the need to service a fully-fit Alexander Isak properly from next season onwards is acute.
Salah has scored 257 goals for the club across the last nine years, which places him third in the all-time list of goalscorers for a club who are English football’s most successful. So the idea that there is another oven-ready player capable of covering that shortfall is viewed as unrealistic. 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. Liverpool, though, have much to do correct the problems that have become obvious and a parsimonious transfer window will be viewed in a dim light from fans.
The expected new deal for Ibrahima Konate is welcome news as the club close in on an agreement to extend the France international’s stay. Having to recruit a first-team centre-half to replace Konate would have been a costly enterprise at a time when there are more pressing concerns.
Sunday’s morale-boosting win at Everton, in the first Merseyside derby at Hill Dickinson Stadium, should provide the squad with a spring in their step ahead of Saturday’s visit from Crystal Palace, though.
And ahead of what looks to be a season-defining month against Manchester United, Aston Villa, Chelsea and now fellow Champions League chasers, Bournemouth, the 2-1 triumph over David Moyes’s men was the perfect tonic to a largely wretched few weeks since the March international break.
“Sunday’s result was absolutely massive,” Michael Owen tells the ECHO. “To extend the cushion over Everton especially was important and I can see Liverpool now doing enough to secure Champions League qualification.
“It was never going to be easy, but to come through that with three points says a lot about the team, so full credit to them and Slot.
“Chelsea continue to wobble, and other teams challenging as well aren’t winning, which means Liverpool should very much secure Champions League qualification.”
With Salah and vice captain Andy Robertson set to strip the squad further of experience, quality and leadership in the dressing room, Liverpool might also have to seek out a character who doesn’t fit the traditional model of young players with high ceilings to redress the balance, in the same manner of James Milner’s 2015 capture from Manchester City.
“Is this summer a reset? You have the ask the question to the guys higher up,” says Virgil van Dijk. “The leadership boys are falling apart, in terms of players leaving.
“So players have to step up and see what the guys making the decisions are going to do but I’m pretty sure everyone has the right intentions to make us, as a club, competitive and hopefully not have a season like we’re having this season again.
“I think you come to the decisive period now so if it is slipping away you are playing against very difficult opponents and you can get knocked out – not that that is the Liverpool standard I’m used to or we should be used to, not at all.
“But the reality is we are playing five more games after this and we have to try to get qualification for Champions League done. It’s definitely not the standards what I expect and envision myself being a Liverpool player – just to qualify for the Champions League.”
Like Van Dijk alludes to, merely qualifying for the Champions League won’t be viewed as a measure of success but it does give the club the platform to rebuild properly. 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.