Stunning Arne Slot sack update as Saudi Pro League want trio of key Liverpool figures | OneFootball

Liverpool are not currently thinking about replacing Arne Slot in the summer as there are ‘numerous mitigating factors’ for their poor season, according to reports.

The Reds have been in poor form in the Premier League this season with Slot’s side currently fifth after losing their tenth league match of the season over the weekend against Brighton.

Liverpool won the Premier League title last season and finished ten points ahead of current leaders Arsenal, who are currently 21 points ahead of the Reds.

Slot has got Liverpool to the quarter-finals and the Champions League, while they are still in the FA Cup, but failure to qualify for next season’s Champions League could be huge.

After spending over £400m on new signings in the summer transfer window, there is little sympathy for Slot among some supporters and there has been an expectation that the Dutchman will likely be replaced at the end of the season.

However, The Independent‘s Miguel Delaney insists that club chiefs don’t see it that way and there are ‘no current plans to move on’ Slot with the Liverpool hierarchy ‘believing there are numerous mitigating factors for a disappointing campaign’.

Even if Slot stays there is likely to be upheaval at Anfield in the summer with the Saudi Pro League ‘targeting both Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes’.

Fenway Sports Group have moved away from a potential multi-club strategy that Edwards was overseeing and now the group’s CEO of Football could seek a new challenge and the Saudis are ‘willing to offer him an opportunity’.

The Saudi Pro League are still ‘desperate’ to land Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian announced his imminent departure on Tuesday, while sporting director Hughes is ‘seen as an ideal candidate for Al Hilal’s recruitment roles’.

Liverpool Echo reporter Paul Gorst has already revealed that Slot will not be leaving before the end of the season as the Reds have no interest in “a stop-gap appointment”.

Gorst wrote: ‘When Liverpool searched for Jurgen Klopp‘s successor, it was one that took the best part of six months before Slot emerged as the preferred candidate and the enormous dossier produced on the Dutchman by the club, which was said to have been around 60 pages, was indicative of how meticulous they were in their recruitment drive.

‘It’s why the idea of dispensing with Slot now and bringing in a stop-gap appointment in the manner of United with interim boss Michael Carrick is simply a non-starter. The time for judgement will come at the end of the season.’

Responding to speculation around his job, Slot told reporters over the weekend: “It makes complete sense if you win the win league last season and you’ve spent £150m – not £450m – that expectations are high.

“And those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.

“But still it’s not good enough, no matter how many excuses I can come up with. It’s still not good enough in the position we’re in right now.”