Liverpool: Arne Slot explains January transfer problem as budget revealed amid defensive crisis | OneFootball

Dutchman’s squad depth is thinner than he might like, but can he reinforce in January?

Arne Slot has insisted that Liverpool do not have bottomless pockets ahead of the January transfer window, despite their £450million summer outlay.

The Reds set a pair of British transfer records with their summer dealings, adding Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, also spending heavily on Hugo Ekitike and Jeremie Frimpong.

Slot’s squad building has come in for criticism, though. Liverpool defenders are thin on the ground, and the Reds have spent several weeks of this campaign without a fit right-back available.

There may not be much opportunity - or desire - to invest in January, though.

Speaking on Friday, Slot committed to fixing Liverpool’s problems without dipping into the market: “The outside world wants to believe we have unlimited money but that is not true.

“You insiders know – and you are the only ones because the outside world only talks about our spending – what we have brought in [money] to spend. That is the way we work over here.

“You then have to accept that in certain games during a season you are short of a right full-back. But we are still able to win. I fully believe in that way of working by the way.”

He continued, adding that Giovanni Leoni’s ACL injury proved a spanner in the works of his season plan, particularly with both Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate not quite at their best and Joe Gomez struggling for fitness.

“The injury of Giovanni Leoni has quite a lot of impact. If you have four centre-backs for the season, two right- and two left-backs with Wata [Endo] and Ryan [Gravenberch] who can help you out, but then you have an ACL injury, that is not very helpful.

“t is tough. And unfortunately Joe is now out of the squad again tomorrow. In a season, these moments for most teams happen. Some teams have so many [options] but most other teams do not.”