Liverpool's Champions League Aspirations and Slot's Future
Liverpool edge towards the Champions League places on Sunday with a task that, on paper, looks simple. Avoid defeat to Brentford at Anfield and fifth place is theirs.
Even losing might not be enough to knock them off course. Bournemouth would need to overturn a six-goal swing at Nottingham Forest to deny Arne Slot a top-five finish in his first Premier League campaign. The numbers favour Liverpool. The mood does not.
Because when the final whistle blows this weekend, it will close the book on a season that has felt strangely hollow for a club that measures itself in trophies, not consolations. And the summer waiting on the other side looks anything but calm.
Slot under scrutiny as Iraola talk grows
For much of the run-in, the message around Arne Slot was steady: he would stay, regroup and go again. Early reports painted a picture of a hierarchy prepared to back their man despite an underwhelming campaign.
That certainty has started to fray.
Foot Mercato report that Fenway Sports Group are at least exploring a change of direction, weighing up a potential U-turn on Slot’s future. Xabi Alonso, long admired at Anfield and widely viewed as a natural fit, was considered as a possible successor before committing his future to Chelsea.
With Alonso off the table, another name has moved sharply into focus: Andoni Iraola.
According to the French outlet, Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes is pursuing the Bournemouth manager, who is set to leave the Cherries at the end of the season. Iraola’s stock could hardly be higher. He has driven Bournemouth into sixth place, putting together a 17-match unbeaten league run – the longest of any side in the Premier League this year.
That kind of form attracts attention. It also gives Iraola options.
Liverpool, though, might not be starting from scratch. Hughes was the man who first brought Iraola to Bournemouth during his time as sporting director on the south coast, a relationship that could tilt any race in Anfield’s favour if FSG decide to act.
For now, there is a note of caution. The Athletic maintain that Liverpool’s stance on Slot remains unchanged. Officially, the Dutchman is still the man for next season.
Unofficially, the noise around his position is getting harder to ignore.
A summer of departures – and a gaping void
Even if Slot survives the internal review, the landscape he inherits will look very different.
Liverpool face the prospect of saying goodbye to Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson in the same window, two pillars of the modern era preparing to walk away after nine years at the club. Replacing one of them would be a major project. Replacing both, at once, is the kind of rebuild that can reshape a club’s identity.
The task drops squarely at the feet of Slot and Hughes. New tactical ideas are one thing; finding footballers with the aura, output and dressing-room weight of Salah and Robertson is another. The anxiety among supporters is understandable. The margin for error is thin.
Robertson lifts the lid on a bruising year
If the recruitment picture looks daunting, the human side of Liverpool’s season has been even more raw.
Speaking to Ian Wright on The Overlap, Robertson tried to unpick the reasons behind the team’s sharp drop from title challengers to also-rans. His answer went far beyond form and fitness.
The 32-year-old spoke about the death of team-mate Diogo Jota and the emotional toll that tragedy took during their title defence, describing the experience of grieving in the middle of a campaign as “tough”.
“What happened in the summer with Diogo Jota… nobody could have prepared us for that,” Robertson said. “The first time I saw my teammates again after the trophy parade was on the way to one of our mate's funeral.
“And I don't want to use this as an excuse, but we cannot hide away from this. It's been tough, and we can't hide away from this. Diogo Jota was one of our best mates.”
Those are not the words of a player searching for alibis. They are the words of someone trying to explain why a dressing room that once felt unbreakable suddenly looked fragile.
Robertson also pointed to the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid as another fault line in Liverpool’s season.
“I think obviously we’ve missed him as a player, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve missed him as a character as well,” he said. “But he’s went on to try something new and sometimes you just have to take your hat off to that.”
The loss of Alexander-Arnold’s creativity on the pitch has been obvious. The loss of his personality off it, less visible but just as significant, has left a void in a group already dealing with grief and change.
Anfield’s next act
So Liverpool head into the final day with Champions League football within reach, yet with more questions than answers hanging over the club’s future.
Will FSG hold their nerve with Slot or lean into the pull of Iraola and a fresh start? How do you replace Salah’s goals, Robertson’s drive and Alexander-Arnold’s invention without losing the soul of the side?
Sunday will settle the league table. The real story, the one that will define the next era at Anfield, starts when the stadium empties and the rebuilding truly begins.
