How Slot and Klopp’s first eight Liverpool signings compare as pattern emerges

Liverpool’s transfer business at the start of Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot’s careers have quite the difference

Jurgen Klopp and Arne Slot‘s beginnings at Liverpool could hardly have been more contrasting. When Klopp arrived in 2015, he faced the challenge of restoring the Reds to their previous heights following years of domestic underperformance.

Encouraging fans to shift from “doubters to believers”, Klopp orchestrated the revival of a club accustomed to falling short into one consistently competing for silverware both domestically and across Europe.

Liverpool’s renaissance under Klopp wasn’t instantaneous, with the former manager needing to operate cleverly in the transfer market from the outset. Slot’s situation has been markedly different, receiving the biggest transfer budget in the club’s history last summer.

Continuing the foundations laid by his predecessor during nine years on Merseyside, the Dutchman guided Liverpool to Premier League glory last season, joining an exclusive group as only the fifth manager in the competition’s history to claim the title in their maiden season.

Given the responsibility to strengthen the squad further with ambitions of establishing a dynasty, Slot’s second transfer window at Liverpool bore little resemblance to his first. His only additions last year were Federico Chiesa and Giorgi Mamardashvili, with the goalkeeper staying on loan at Valencia for the remainder of the campaign.

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The 47-year-old revamped his full-back options with the signings of Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, costing the club a hefty £69million. The pair’s arrival was just the beginning of Slot’s spending spree, which saw him break the club record with the acquisition of Florian Wirtz for a staggering £116m, followed by the British record fee of £125m splashed on Alexander Isak.

The Dutchman also forked out £79m on Hugo Ekitike to bolster his attacking options. In contrast, during Klopp’s reign, the closest Liverpool came to such extravagant spending was the £75m shelled out for Virgil van Dijk.

This purchase, along with the £67m spent on Alisson, only occurred after Philippe Coutinho was sold to Barcelona for a whopping £142m. Klopp’s initial eight signings as manager were far more modest, including three free transfers – Joel Matip, Alexander Manninger and Steven Caulker, with the latter being a loan deal.

During the first 18 months of Klopp’s tenure, the purse strings were tightly controlled, but exceptions were made for the arrivals of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. Unlike Wirtz and Isak, who arrived at Liverpool as world-class players, Mane and Salah were yet to reach that status but did so under Klopp’s guidance, significantly increasing their value in the process.

Klopp’s spending power grew during his final years at Anfield thanks to on-field achievements and the club’s record-breaking financial performance. Nevertheless, it paled in comparison to the staggering £450million Slot splashed out last summer, with Klopp acknowledging such lavish expenditure would have been impossible during his tenure.

Speaking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, he said: “I had no clue that this is possible. Nobody ever told me that it’s possible that we can spend like that. My last year at Liverpool, we obviously (had) the adidas deal, the new stadium, all these kind of things – they earn more money.

“But never, ever I could have asked for that amount of money, but that’s not a problem. In that time it was not there, no problem at all.” Despite Slot’s extravagant summer outlay, the Liverpool manager finds himself in troubled waters, presiding over nine defeats in their previous 12 matches.

Last weekend’s humiliating 3-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest was compounded by another dismal performance at Anfield, with PSV inflicting a crushing 4-1 Champions League defeat.

Klopp’s first eight Liverpool signings

• Marko Grujic
• Loris Karius
• Sadio Mane
• Joel Matip
• Ragnar Klavan
• Georginio Wijnaldum
• Alexander Manninger
• Mohamed Salah

Slot’s first Liverpool signings

• Federico Chiesa
• Giorgi Mamardashvili
• Giovanni Leoni
• Jeremie Frimpong
• Milos Kerkez
• Hugo Ekitike
• Florian Wirtz
• Alexander Isak