ARNE SLOT is set to be confirmed as Liverpool’s next manager after a £9.4m compensation deal with Feyenoord was agreed in principle.
The 45-year-old Dutchman is set to succeed outgoing Anfield legend Jurgen Klopp at the end of the Eredivisie season in mid-May.
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Negotiations with Dutch giants Feyenoord were finalized for £7.7m, plus £1.7m in add-ons.
The compensation deal, which could be worth up to £9.4m, was agreed on Friday night.
Liverpool are also adding moves for Slot’s right-hand man Sipke Hulshoff, who spent time with the Dutch national team.
The Reds are also keen to sign Feyenoord’s head of performance Ruben Peeters and analyst Etienne Reijnen.
And it has also been reported that the details of Slot’s contract at Liverpool have been sorted out.
His next appointment is expected to be confirmed within a few days.
Klopp, 56, revealed in January that he would end his nine-year reign at Anfield once the campaign ended.
He guided Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2019 and the Prem title the following year.
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But Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to Everton left the Reds third in the table – three points behind leaders Arsenal and two behind Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
Klopp said of Slot’s expected arrival: “I’m not involved in the process, just to clarify that.
Liverpool goes to the Netherlands
WHO’S WHO on Liverpool’s bench next season.
Manager Arne Slot, 45
Slot led Feyenoord for three seasons, winning the Eredivisie title in 2023 and the KNVB Cup in 2024.
A former Dutch football player, he is known for being a perfectionist and prefers attacking football like Jurgen Klopp.
Assistant manager Sipke Hulshoff, 49
Hulshoff currently serves as Ronald Koeman’s assistant coach with the Dutch national team and also works alongside Slot at Feyenoord.
He had two spells as coach of little-known Dutch team Cambuur.
Head of Performance Ruben Peeters, 31
Former fitness coach at Genk, Peeters has worked with Slot at Feyenoord since 2021.
The Belgian has a master’s degree in Sports Science.
Chief Analyst Etienne Reijnen, 37
Former defender who retired from football in 2020 to become a coach.
In October 2023, Reijnen joined Feyenoord as an assistant coach, to focus on analysis and technical advice to Arne Slot.
“What I really like about this, if it’s him, is that he really wants to take the job.
“I like the way his team plays football, definitely.
“All the things I hear about him – some people I know know him, but I don’t know him yet – but some people tell me he’s a really good guy, and I really like that.
It’s the best job in the world, the best club in the world
Jurgen Klopp
“So, good coach, good lad, looking forward to the club. If he’s the solution, or the man, then I’m more than happy.
“It’s not for me to judge these things, but it all looks very good to me.
“It’s the best job in the world, the best club in the world. Obviously now, I help even though I don’t finish on a high note – it seems – so there is room for improvement.
“It’s a great job, great people. He would take a really interesting job.”
Slot was a solid midfielder and goalscorer during 18 years as a player.
He scored 50 goals in 164 games in a seven-year spell at first club Zwolle.
Then came five years at NAC Breda and a spell at Sparta Rotterdam from 2007 to 2010, before returning to Zwolle to end his playing career.
Unsurprisingly, it was in Zwolle that Slot began training after retiring from the field in 2013.
Slot snubbed Spurs, hates defending and has a PASS named after him
By Dan King
LIVERPOOL manager target Arne Slot was a good enough player to have a passing style named after him.
But it is as a coach that the Feyenoord boss is really making his mark.
Like another bald Dutchman, Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, Slot made a name for himself managing smaller teams before getting the chance to play for one of the Dutch big three.
But the question Liverpool are pondering is whether Slot could manage one of the world’s biggest clubs better than Ten Hag has so far at Old Trafford.
Slot, 45, was certainly easier on the eyes as a player than defender Ten Hag.
“The Arne Slot Ball” was something he perfected like a silky number 10 – a 180-degree turn back to goal, first time, and a movement behind the defensive line for a winger to run into the middle of the opposition field.
Click here to read all about Liverpool’s new manager.
He then managed Dutch second division club Cambur in 2016-17 and took the job at Alkmaar two years later.
Slot then got one of the top jobs in Dutch football when Feyenoord arrived in December 2020.
He is now set to head to Liverpool after the Dutch domestic campaign ends on May 19.
The news comes 24 hours after Sky Sports journalist Gary Cotterill was grabbed and pulled away by former AZ Alkmaar boss when he tried to question him about the move.
Cotterill was blocked by a member of the coach’s entourage.
Slot smiled at the time but declined to divulge any details.
What they said about Arne Slot
MATT WADE, head of sports strategy at Feyenoord
“He is a brilliant and consultative communicator, but at the same time clear.
“He’s quite cautious, quite introverted, but very rule-based and principled, which means everyone knows where they stand.
“And he’s not paranoid, which gives experts freedom to operate.”
SANDER WESTERVELD, former Liverpool goalkeeper and teammate of Arne Slot
“When I played with Arne at Sparta, you could see he would become a coach.
“He was a leader, a number 10 midfielder and someone who would change tactics on his own.
“The work he did at Feyenoord makes him the perfect choice for Liverpool.”
Dutch football journalist MARCEL VAN DER KRAAN
“I have been following Feyenoord for 40 years. Not since Johan Cruyff’s time at Ajax in the 1980s has there been a coach so attacking in the Dutch league.
“Cruyff only had a few disciples who followed him and one of them was Pep Guardiola.”
Arsenal star REISS NELSON, who played 31 games under Slot, on loan at Feyenoord
“I felt that Arne Slot is a great coach. He really put me in my groove.
“He gave me a lot of opportunities to play and I stood out.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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