In an interview last August, Dutch tactician Arne Slot snubbed Liverpool while naming the football teams that he loves watching.
He named Premier League sides Manchester City, Arsenal, and Brighton, and 2022-23 Serie A champions Napoli.
According to numerous reports, the Reds have reached an agreement with Feyenoord to seal the Dutchman’s switch to Anfield at the end of the season.
He will replace Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, who spent nine successful years in Merseyside.
Interestingly, in an interview with Voetbal International in August 2023,
Slot talked about the teams he admires and lavished special praise on Liverpool’s rivals Manchester City.
“There is no team in the world I would rather watch than Manchester City, followed by Napoli, Arsenal and Brighton,” he said (via talkSPORT).
“But City – and again it is not my intention to compare us with them – have a similar style of play to how we want to play with Feyenoord: 4-3-3, building up from the back, wanting to apply pressure quickly.”
Slot also talked about his admiration for Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, who has been Klopp’s chief rival during his time in English football.
“I certainly don’t want to compare myself to Pep, but he is a control freak just like me,” he continued.
“If I look at myself, I try to win a match in the week before it is played, by conveying the training, pre-match team talks and tactics to the players as perfectly as possible,” the tactician added.
It’s worth noting that Slot hasn’t managed any club outside of the Netherlands so far in his career.
Moving to the Premier League giants will be a big step-up in his career
and it’ll be interesting to see how he copes with the transition.