Arne Slot speaks out on Real Madrid interest in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool contracts

Arne Slot, Liverpool’s head coach, recently addressed growing interest from Real Madrid in Trent Alexander-Arnold, alongside contract discussions involving key players Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. These players are soon eligible to negotiate pre-contract agreements with international clubs starting January 1.

Arne Slot said, “I think you underestimate our players. If you think they’re disturbed by these interests, then I think you don’t do justice to how strong they are mentally and what they are used to. This is part of our job. This is part of this world we are living in. You just focus on what you have to do. Maybe if you’re 17 or 18 years of age, that could be difficult for you. But Trent has won the league, has won the Champions League, Virgil and Mo are the same. I don’t think that is a problem for them to perform. That’s also what we see at the moment because they’re playing really well, put it that way. That’s difficult for me to judge. If you call me manager or head coach that’s different from how it was. I’ve always been a head coach and I’ve always been involved in contract situations like ‘who do you want to extend?’ I’m not the one that is sitting in front of the agents talking about money. I don’t think Jurgen Klopp did this [at Liverpool]? I think there is no difference. I don’t know because I don’t know how it worked. I know that we spoke quite some time about [the job title] ‘manager’ or ‘head coach’. I said: ‘We’ve spoken about it a bit now but for me it is the same’. It would be really weird [if I was not involved]. There’s no sporting director in the world, even if you have legally no input, that he would bring a player in or extend a player that you don’t want. You always talk about these things. So, no, the only thing is every time it is the same question the good thing is I can give the same answer! For me it is not something I am wondering about. If after the last game of this season is played then it might bother me to think ‘are they here or not?’ But my main focus is now the short-term and I think in football it is mainly about the short-term – especially if you are a manager. We are planning the long-term as well but that’s more for me to help Richard with the long-term. My main focus is the short-term.”