Arne Slot lifts lid on Liverpool transfer plans with hint at 'big summer' - 'that I agree on'
Arne Slot reacts to Virgil van Dijk's comments of Liverpool 'planning to make it a big summer'
Arne Slot has played down talk of Liverpool undergoing major surgery in this summer's transfer market and believes the contract extensions of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are proof of their ambition for the coming years.
Van Dijk, like Salah last Friday, was formally announced as having signed a new two-year contract extension on Thursday, ending months of speculation in the process over the captain's long-term future.
The resolutions of both Salah and Van Dijk's respective situations means it has been an outstanding week for the club off the pitch and speaking after the 2-1 win over West Ham United on Sunday, the Reds skipper claimed the club was "planning to make it a big summer".
Slot was asked for his take on Van Dijk's comments in his Good Friday press conference and he believes the tying down of both players is evidence enough that Liverpool are planning to improve for next season.
"[Van Dijk's contract] tells you that we want to keep our best players," Slot said. "The players that have played a great season for so many years in row. When we are able to keep them as free agents, it tells you the ambitions we have for the upcoming years.
"I’m really happy they both extended. Virgil is so important, defensively and offensively, in and around the dressing room. A great personality and a great football player.
“I think at Liverpool there is always a big summer and it is already a big summer now. Maybe the players don't follow everything what has been said in the media, me neither, but what I do know it was it was a big thing – 'can we hold onto them?' - and by already holding on to two it is already a big summer.
"Let's see what the rest of the summer will bring but it would be strange for me to say now I am not happy with the team we are having because I've said this for a year, we are happy with the team we are having. Maybe if we can keep that team it will already be a big summer."
Slot added: “We have showed the opposite (of standing still means going backwards) last season, because we didn't change anything and I don't think we went downwards.
"In general I agree, but there is also lots of study being done that the longer a team plays together the more success it has. I think the core of the team you want to keep as long as you can together, as long as they are performing in the best possible way.
"But it is also in general good to have some new energy in and around the place with one or two players, that I agree on. But it isn't really a necessity when you look at the quality we have and the quality of the season we have had because, again, we saw during the week how good a team Newcastle is.
"They are number three and that they played so well against us in the League Cup final is probably not a surprise any more. Paris St Germain have been good but Villa, number seven at the moment, showed they can win against Paris St Germain. What a league we are in."
Liverpool can become Premier League champions on Sunday if they beat Leicester City at the King Power Stadium and Arsenal lose earlier in the day to Ipswich Town.