Slot sack talk sparks ‘99% sure’ Collymore theory with Liverpool transfer plans impacted by Champions League demise | OneFootball

Stan Collymore has exclusively revealed to TEAMtalk why Arne Slot will NOT be sacked by Liverpool even if the club misses out on a return to the Champions League next season – but has admitted their entire summer transfer plans will be severely impacted if they don’t seal a return to Europe’s top table.

The Reds crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night after a 2-0 home defeat to Paris Saint-Germain sealed a 4-0 aggregate exit, with the loss ensuring they will finish the 2025/26 season without a trophy to their name. For a club that spent a whopping £440m (€505m, $600m) on new players last summer, that falls well short of expectations.

As a result, Slot‘s position as Liverpool manager has come under serious attention this summer, with the Liverpool Echo claiming back in the autumn, in the midst of a run of nine defeats in 12 games, that the Dutchman was one week away from the sack.

While things have got marginally better since, Liverpool are a long way off the standards expected of them, and question marks over the 47-year-old’s future continue to linger.

However, our reporter Graeme Bailey was last week one of five top journalists to all insist that Slot is likely to remain in situ this summer, though a review of his role is still planned by FSG as part of a more generic look over the season.

Now Collymore has weighed in on the debate, and insists FSG’s thinking will not have altered in the wake of their exit to PSG.

“I don’t think going out of the Champions League at this point will make much difference for Arne Slot,” Collymore told TEAMtalk in association with BestBettingBonuses.co.uk.

“Based on their form this season, you’d probably say that getting to the quarter-finals is about par. I don’t imagine many people would have looked at this Liverpool side and been shocked that they’re going out to PSG at this stage.

“That said, if they fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League, that raises a whole different set of questions about Slot. The team will be without Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson, which are two massive losses, so they need to be in a strong position to attract top-level players.

“Will top talents like Michael Olise want to join Liverpool if they’re in the Europa League? I doubt it…

“Even so, I still think Liverpool will stick with Slot even if they miss out on the Champions League. Winning the Premier League last season has given him plenty of breathing space, so I expect he’ll remain in charge regardless.”

Liverpool are not a sacking club as Slot is told he’s ‘safe’

We asked Collymore if he saw Xabi Alonso as the perfect heir to Slot were the Reds to move the Dutchman on, and while the former Reds striker believes there’s ‘always a chance’, he just does not see FSG as changing managers any time soon.

“There’s always a chance with these things, but I just don’t see Liverpool as a sacking club,” Collymore added. “I’ve always felt FSG are fairly conservative when it comes to those sorts of decisions, so if Arne Slot gets them into the Champions League, I think he stays.

“I also don’t see Liverpool as being like Chelsea, who often decide, ‘this isn’t working, so let’s rip it up and bring in a new manager’. I’m 99% certain Slot will remain in charge.

“If Slot does leave in the summer, though, then yes – Xabi Alonso will almost certainly be on the shortlist of names the club look at.”

Latest Liverpool news: FOUR more exits touted; BVB star available for Reds

Meanwhile, a top Liverpool reporter has named four prominent first-teamers who could leave Anfield in the summer, and it might finally be time to dump Alexis Mac Allister on Real Madrid.

That update comes after Slot revealed, in the wake of the exit to PSG, that the Reds would likely need to sell before they buy this summer and having dropped a big claim about the club coming to ‘the end of the cycle’.

In other news, Liverpool have been chosen as one of just three clubs that can activate an incredibly modest release clause inserted in the contract of one of the Bundesliga’s best players, and the clause can be activated THIS SUMMER.

Elsewhere, Liverpool have been told that Virgil van Dijk can continue playing at the very top level for another couple of seasons yet, though Collymore has major reservations over who partners him in the centre of defence amid questions on Ibrahima Konate’s form.