Arne Slot will be the man appointed to take over from Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, short of a dramatic late twist in the tale. The Feyenoord boss has been selected after a rigorous, extensive and data-led search, and an agreement with his current club has been reached.
With Liverpool's season — and the final few matches of the Klopp era — threatening to play out with a whimper, attention will no doubt turn to the new era. And the number of questions that need to be answered this summer are growing.
On the touchline at the London Stadium this weekend, Mohamed Salah was engaged in a heated debate with Klopp before he had even gotten onto the field. The Egyptian only has a year left on his contract and that will do nothing to squash talk that he could depart.
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In truth, though, Salah remains Liverpool's most potent attacker. He hasn't shown that for a while, granted, but he still has five more goal contributions this season than the next-best Reds man for those metrics. It says plenty about the relative lack of goal threat that Darwin Núñez, who has missed at least as many big chances as he has scored, is second on the list.
For that reason, and considering the fact that Liverpool will return to an expanded Champions League format next season, it makes the most sense to add to the forward options that Slot will have available to him in 2024/25 rather than look at losing any. Salah, as the most reliable, simply has to stay — though there is pressure to improve substantially on his current form.
Elsewhere, there is another obvious transfer need. Joël Matip is out of contract and there are question marks hanging over the reliability of Ibrahima Konaté, meaning adding another center-back is an absolute must.
Eintracht Frankfurt starlet Willian Pacho is already being linked with a move (via Gianluca Di Marzio) and Liverpool has known for a while that Matip's deal is up. Jarell Quansah has emerged as a serious senior option in the last few months, but the youngster cannot be over-relied upon and needs to be managed.
If Slot is to make an instant impact at Liverpool, he is going to need to oversee an immediate improvement in the two most important areas: stability in defense, and efficiency in attack. For that, in part, the solution can be getting more from what Liverpool already has; in all likelihood, though, FSG is going to have to turn to the transfer market too.
Signing another defender and another forward will mean that Liverpool takes another step forward again. And if Slot is going to get people on board with the post-Klopp era instantly, that kind of progression will be vital.
