Liverpool don’t have long to soak in their status as Premier League champions before it all starts again this summer.
The Reds have three games of the season left to play, and will rightfully be awarded a guard of honour by each of their opponents.
But although he and the Liverpool squad will no doubt still be enjoying their success, Arne Slot will already be looking ahead to next season.
Liverpool are in for a big summer in the transfer market, with Trent Alexander-Arnold already throwing up a problem for Slot to solve.
Alexander-Arnold will exit on a free, leaving behind a gaping hole at right-back. Conor Bradley is expected to step up, but with injury question marks over the youngster there is a feeling that Liverpool will enter the market as well.
That was the question asked of Slot during his pre-Arsenal press conference on Friday. And the Liverpool head coach answered back in typically blunt fashion.
Arne Slot names four in-house options for Liverpool
Although he is a straight talker, Slot is not the type of manager who is going to give much away when speaking to the press.
The Dutchman has been having to answer questions about contracts all season long and has now become accustomed to keeping cards close to his chest.
And that was the same on Friday, when a journalist who asked whether Liverpool would be bringing in a right-back from outside the club was met with a slightly prickly response.
“We’ve got Conor Bradley and I’ve played Curtis Jones over there, so four players who can play that position!” answered Slot, hitting back at a suggestion that Bradley was now the only natural right-back at his disposal.
“One of them that right-back is his ideal position, but Joe Gomez can play there really well in my opinion. Maybe centre-back is his favourite position, though, and for Jarell [Quansah] it’s the same.
“I think it would be a surprise to you if I told you now ‘yes, we’re looking at this or looking at that’, we don’t talk about that here. First of all if you’ve just won the league it’s not easy to find better players than we already have and they then need to be affordable and want to come – which is mostly not a problem – but sometimes transfer fees are.”
Will Liverpool really not sign a right-back?
Slot’s answer here will have Liverpool fans sweating slightly over their summer business. The Reds have shown that they will sit on their hands and wait despite overwhelming calls to sign a player before.
Back in 2021, the world and his dog could see that Liverpool needed a new centre-back. But inexplicably, the Reds chose to go into the campaign with three senior defenders. Inevitably, they all got injured and the season was a write-off.
Fast forward to last summer, and Liverpool chose to hold off on signing a central midfielder despite a clear need for another in the squad. That ultimately ended up fine, but it could easily have gone the other way, too.
So, although most would surmise that of these four players only one – maybe two at a push with Gomez – is a genuine option to play right-back for Liverpool, it would not be a surprise if they are the players Slot has come the start of next season.
There are academy players coming through at right-back, too, so perhaps that is something to look out for as well. Ideally, a new signing will be made. But Liverpool don’t always do things simply in the market.
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