FSG have major new Liverpool issue to consider after £450m summer transfer window

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A journalist with over a decade's worth of experience, he has worked at the ECHO since 2016.

Now well over a year into his time as the head coach at Liverpool, much of Arne Slot's time has been spent discussing contract impasses of some of his biggest names.

Having joined in the summer of 2024, the Dutchman, alongside sporting director Richard Hughes, inherited three problems that were not of their making.

Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold were all inside the last 12 months of their deals and barely a week went by without the boss Slot being grilled over at least one of the influential trio.

That lasted right the way through to April, when it was finally confirmed that Salah and Van Dijk had penned two-year extensions and then the start of May, when it was made public that Alexander-Arnold would be leaving to join Real Madrid.

READ MORE:Arne Slot makes Florian Wirtz Liverpool price tag claim - 'I don't think it is something'READ MORE:Arne Slot explains what he did not expect from Liverpool - ' I could go on and on'

Slot managed to diffuse those time-bombs with quiet panache last season, rarely giving off the impression that the uncertainty over his three of his best players ever got to him or became a problem behind the scenes.

So it is little surprise to learn that the current stalemate over Ibrahima Konate is not causing the Reds head coach to have any sleepless nights at present.

Like Van Dijk, Salah and Alexander-Arnold last season, there are many questions over what happens next for the France international, but it is more a case of out of the fire and back into the frying pan on that particular issue.

But as Slot heads into his second autumn in charge of Liverpool, in possession of the Premier League trophy, the next contract situation that may appear on his radar is that of his own.

Slot, who celebrated his 47th birthday this week, is hurtling towards the midway point of the three-year agreement he signed when he moved to Merseyside from Feyenoord last summer.

It's testament to how well he has performed during his time at Anfield that the whole regime still feels fresh and new, but before 2026 starts to become a consideration, the attention behind the scenes may just start to turn towards a renewal.

And given what has been a wildly successful year or so to date, the former Feyenoord boss will surely be in line for an improvement on the bottom line.

Slot has catapulted his reputation on the European stage to a dizzy height during his short time at Liverpool and he has become more widely known as an astute tactician, whose ability to improve individual players inspired the club to its 20th English top-flight title last term.

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Winning the Premier League will do that for a head coach who is still only in the infancy of his career and, if there is plenty of excitement around how a big-spending summer has retooled the squad to continue dominating for the years ahead, at no point will that have that been pictured without Slot being the man to lead the charge.

The summer spending spree that totalled around £450m won't have been agreed upon by owners Fenway Sports Group without some thought as to who would be coaching this new-look side for the coming years and Slot, undoubtedly, is the best man for the job.

The likes of Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, at the ages of 22 and 25, have been brought to the club for the here and now, but also to bring future success to these parts, and both were convinced that Liverpool was the right club for them on the back of the dream sold to them by Slot.

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"We already have a big summer (ahead), I’ve said many times," Slot said when asked about a potential new contract back in May.

"But you are not going to be surprised by my answer are you?"

That trademark refusal to divulge the latest on the contract front might once more become a familiar reply from Slot in the coming weeks and months.

But it is a line of questioning that might become more routine as we edge nearer to the halfway mark of his agreement.