Arne Slot defends Liverpool’s record summer spend and says “injuries weren’t predictable” | OneFootball

Arne Slot has defended Liverpool's summer transfer business and said the club could not predict their injuries this season.

Liverpool spent £446m on new signings last summer, the most ever spent by aPremier League club in a single window.

However, the Reds have endured a disappointing campaign with the club's midweek loss at Wolves leaving Liverpool sixth in thePremier League table. Amid a poor title defence, attention now turns to other competitions, starting with an FA Cup rematch with Wolves this evening.

Ahead of the fifth-round tie at Molineux, Slot was asked whether he would have made different decisions on the 'composition of the squad' with hindsight.

However, the Dutchman told hispre-match press conference that he remains happy with the club's business. He added that Liverpool could not have predicted their misfortune with injuries, with summer signings Alexander Isak and Giovani Leoni, and right-back Conor Bradley, suffering long-term issues. Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong have also spent time on the sidelines.

Liverpool have looked light defensively this season, having missed out on the signing of Marc Guehi on deadline day. The centre-back eventually joined Manchester City from Crystal Palace in January. Despite that, Slot said he has no regrets over his squad's balance.

"I'm so happy what we've done last summer. We signed such great players. But some of them needed some time to adapt and some of them have mainly been injured," he said.

"That's not something you can predict. Yeah, adaptation you can predict because that's what we knew. But that some signings and some others got some long-term injuries, that's not something you can predict. But it's the model we are having that we are not having 25 players over here.

"We have a different model over here. And then it hurts even more if you have three or four long-term injuries and, at the moment, even more than that."