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Arne Slot says what Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders told him about Liverpool’s players last season was spot on

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Liverpool players are getting used to a new way of working as Arne Slot ramps up his pre-season preparations.

Slot has now been working with the Reds for more than a week after taking over from Jurgen Klopp during the summer.

It has been an impressive start to life at Anfield for Slot, who has made a good impression whenever he’s been seen publicly.

However, throughout his interviews and press conference, you always got the impression that the new head coach was always champing at the bit to get down to business on the training pitches.

Now that he’s fully acclimatised at the AXA Training Centre, Slot has given his thoughts on what he’s seen so far at Kirkby.

Liverpool Training Session
Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Arne Slot makes Jurgen Klopp admission

Of course Slot has not yet met every member of the Liverpool squad. The Dutchman has been hard hit by the ongoing Euros and Copa America.

So far, he has very much been working with a skeleton group of Liverpool players. Nevertheless, the likes of Mohamed Salah, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are all present.

With the bigger stars of the group set to return sporadically over the coming weeks, Slot has had a chance to run the rule over some more fringe players.

Sepp van den Berg has impressed Slot, for example, and now looks likely to get his chance rather than being sold.

READ MORE: Key dates for Liverpool in 2024/25 including pre-season tour and transfer deadline

And speaking to LFCTV about what he’s seen so far, the former Feyenoord boss admitted that some wise words from Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders have started to ring true to him.

“I’m enjoying it a lot, the pitches are great,” says Slot when asked for his thoughts on the opening week.

“The boys are full of energy. Pep and Jurgen already said to me last season that I’m going to enjoy working with them and they haven’t lied at all,” he added.

“Also, the youngsters coming from the academy have the same intensity and the guys are open to learn.”

Who will be next back for Liverpool?

It will be mightily interesting to see which of the young players are afforded the chance to stick around when more and more of the senior players come back.

So far, as he mentions, Slot has been supplementing the group with players from the academy. Although the majority will drop back down once more familiar faces come back, some will likely stay on.

That will give a good indication into which youngsters have caught Slot’s eye ahead of the pre-season tour to the USA.

Before then, it’s likely that Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai and Vitezslav Jaros will be the first of the international players to touch down. All three exited the Euros at the group stage and are likely to be back on Merseyside within the next week or 10 days.

From there, it will be a steady drip feed, with some players likely to join up directly during the US tour.