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Arne Slot talks to media at the post match press conference after AC Milan takes the victory against Liverpool FC at the Liverpool FC v AC Milan Pre-Season Friendly match at Kai Tak Stadium on July 26, 2025(Image: Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Arne Slot has denied claims that Liverpool will need to enter the transfer market to address their centre-back shortage, insisting he has enough cover in defence.

Joe Gomez has been sent back to Merseyside to continue rehab on what has been described as a minor Achilles injury, leaving the Premier League champions with just two recognised senior centre-backs on their pre-season tour of Asia.

Midfielder Ryan Gravenberch played alongside Virgil van Dijk in the first half of Saturday's 4-2 defeat to AC Milan at the Kai Tak stadium before left-back Kostas Tsimikas was partnered with Ibrahima Konate after the break.



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Wataru Endo has previously filled in, having played centre-half semi-regularly during his career in the Bundesliga, but the Japan captain missed Saturday's game through illness.

The injury to Gomez, who has played just 11 minutes in 2025, has thrown up concerns over a lack of cover at the heart of the defence, despite a history-making outlay of nearly £300m this summer, but Slot says he isn't concerned with his options at present.

"I'm looking to my left (at Virgil van Dijk), I don't think we have a concern at centre-back!" Slot said, speaking in the post-match press conference in Hong Kong.

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"In terms of depth, Ryan showed today that he can play that position.

We have enough options left but it's true that Jarell Quansah left and we haven't replaced him."

Slot added: "I also said I was really happy with the squad I had which we showed by not bringing in players last season and we won the league.

"You can see everywhere around us, in the Premier League and in Europe, these teams try to strengthen.

If we do the same as we did last year then we probably wouldn't be able to win it again so we have to improve the players still here, while bringing in new energy and new weapons.

"The new players have shown that in the time we've trained together and the games we've played.

Really pleased with what we did up until now but also really pleased we kept our players."

On the game itself, Slot said: "I saw a few good things but we also have to improve in certain areas.

We got counter-attacked too much.

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"That probably also had something to do with us missing seven senior players.

As a result of that too many players didn't play in their own position.

"We were still able to play our normal game but we were too open at times to the counter-attack."