Arne Slot may have hoped his second season with Liverpool would reach a dramatic conclusion on the day of the Champions League final. And so it did, but in keeping with Slot’s year, not quite in the manner intended. Arsenal were preparing to face Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest when news emerged from Merseyside of Slot’s sacking. It was a surprise to the Dutchman himself.
Enter Andoni Iraola, whose new club finished side-by-side with his old employers in the table. Sixth was Bournemouth’s highest ever finish; fifth brought Liverpool’s lowest points tally for 14 years, with their most defeats in all competitions for 33. In contrast, Iraola finished off unbeaten in 18 Premier League games with Bournemouth.
It is unfair to say Iraola’s task is to be the opposite of Slot: recency bias should not obscure the reality that the Dutchman, unlike Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley or Jurgen Klopp, won the league in his debut campaign. And yet it was not merely that long undefeated run and overachievement that made the Basque everything Slot was not.
Premier League football changed rapidly in his two-season reign. Slot became the right man for the right time and then, seemingly, a man out of time; Iraola’s quicker, more transitional football put him in the vanguard of the Zeitgeist. It may offer more similarities with Klopp’s “heavy metal” style of play. Another difficulty for Slot was that the Liverpool crowd turned against him; Iraola must hope that Anfield’s reputation for backing managers is restored in his tenure. It would help if he can start better than he did at Bournemouth, when his first nine league matches did not yield a victory.
But if Slot is gone, many of Liverpool’s issues remain. They could be Iraola’s problems now. Liverpool’s descent from first to fifth came in a season when they spent a record £450m on signings and the arrivals of Jeremy Jacquet and Victor Munoz take their outlay in 15 months to nearer £550m. Yet the squad looks unfinished: too slender in some areas, too unconvincing in others. In a way, Slot flourished with Jurgen Klopp’s players and floundered with his own; although, in reality, sporting director Richard Hughes and the now-departed Michael Edwards had more responsibility for recruitment.
There is a case for arguing that Alexander Isak finished off Slot; it would be an irony, given that the £125m striker finished too little else in a season when he scored a mere four goals and ranked as the most costly of failures. With Hugo Ekitike out for the early months of the season – sparing Iraola the question of how to use the Frenchman and Isak, to which Slot seemed to have no answer – Liverpool’s fortunes could rest on the Swede.
Iraola’s immediate idea has been to pair him with the other £100m man, using Florian Wirtz as a No 10 after he alternated positions in his mixed first season. But Iraola’s attack-minded football involves an emphasis on wingers, and Liverpool are yet to replace arguably the greatest in their history. Mohamed Salah’s decline was a reason for the side’s slump, but while Liverpool had months to prepare for his departure, finding a successor for the scorer of 257 goals was never going to be easy and always promised to be expensive. But Yan Diomande instead ended up at Real Madrid while Liverpool deem Paris Saint-Germain’s current valuation of Bradley Barcola excessive. Liverpool could look lopsided with their three main wingers – Cody Gakpo, one of last season’s many underachievers, Rio Ngumoha, who is primed for a bigger role, and Munoz – all preferring the left.
One arrival, of sorts, is one of the richest people ever, with the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos part of the 1892 consortium who are taking a minority share in the club. It has not altered the transfer budget, though.
Liverpool’s other additions are at the back: Jacquet, whose £55m move from Rennes was arranged in January, and Ronald Araujo, borrowed from Barcelona after it became clear they risked being derailed for another year by defensive injuries. As it is, Conor Bradley will be out until November; at least Iraola’s brand of football may better suit Milos Kerkez, who excelled for him at Bournemouth, and Jeremie Frimpong, rarely trusted to play right-back by Slot.
But it is inauspicious that Liverpool conceded 53 Premier League goals, and 78 in all competitions, last year. They have since lost Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate, which, in different ways, could add to the burden on Virgil van Dijk. In Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni, Liverpool may have the future. They still have to negotiate the present.
And while, Isak apart, nearly all of their money has been spent on players for the long term, the short term feels uncertain. While Ngumoha offered promise, while Ekitike delivered 17 goals, it was an indictment of everyone else that the shortlist for their player of the year could only really contain one name: Dominik Szoboszlai, scorer of 13 goals, maker of 12, playing everywhere from right-back to No 10.
The Hungarian seems central to Iraola’s plans, looking earmarked for a role in the middle of midfield and the likeliest candidate for the vice-captaincy. Around him, though, virtually everyone else has something to prove, including a manager who has swapped perhaps the smallest club in the division for one of the two biggest and the powerbrokers whose reputation for fine decision-making has been dented.
It is worth remembering that Liverpool kicked off last season as the favourites for the title, when they beat Iraola’s Bournemouth 4-2 on the opening night. They are not now. The immediate aim has to be, simply, improvement, to ensure that 2025-26 was a one-season dip rather than the belated start of an extended struggle in life after Klopp.