Slot leaves Liverpool after tough season, but with legacy safe

Perhaps Arne Slot knew it was coming. As the Liverpool players completed their customary end-of-season lap of honour last Sunday, following a stressful 1-1 draw with Brentford, the Dutchman sat alone in the Anfield dugout and puffed out his cheeks.

While it took a further six days for his immediate departure to be officially confirmed by the club, perhaps Slot suspected in his moment of quiet reflection that he’d already passed the point of no return on Merseyside. Certainly, he did not look like a man buoyed by the prospect of a new dawn on the horizon, but rather one desperately relieved that it was nearly all over.

Then, on Saturday morning, it was over, with Liverpool confirming Slot was stepping down as manager with immediate effect.

It has been — for so many reasons — a season to forget for Liverpool, with Slot’s underperformance one of the numerous factors behind the Reds’ shambolic Premier League title defence. Their 60-point tally was enough to clinch UEFA Champions League qualification by virtue of a fifth-place finish, but 20 defeats in all competitions represented a spectacular fall from grace for a team who went into the campaign as overwhelming favourites to retain their crown.

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While Liverpool’s hierarchy were publicly unwavering in their support for Slot for the duration of the difficult campaign, sources told ESPN that privately, his departure had come to feel inevitable amid a maelstrom of unrest at Anfield. Making a change so soon after the end of the season was viewed internally as the best way to limit disruption for a squad that’s already facing the prospect of a significant revamp this summer.

“That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying,” Liverpool’s ownership said in a joint statement on Saturday. “The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC in the time that he has been with us has been significant, meaningful and — most importantly of all to supporters and ourselves — successful.”

Of course, history will always define Slot’s greatest success at Liverpool as his Premier League triumph. His side won the 2024-25 title by a 10-point margin and likely would have made their dominance count further had they not been afforded the luxury of taking their foot off the gas after sealing top spot with four games remaining.

It was a remarkable feat, and just the second time Liverpool had won the title since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. But to simply reduce Slot’s legacy to one piece of silverware would do an enormous disservice to a head coach whose achievements should be fortified by the passage of time.

Cast your mind back to the spring of 2024, the months after Jurgen Klopp had announced the end of his glittering nine-year tenure. Few were optimistic that his successor would be able to keep the good times rolling at Anfield. Even Xabi Alonso — the fan favourite choice to replace Slot before he took up a position at Chelsea earlier this month — eschewed the opportunity to be interviewed for the role of Klopp’s replacement in favour of another season at Bayer Leverkusen.

Having impressed as head coach of both AZ Alkmaar and Feyenoord in the Netherlands, Slot did not fear the inevitable comparisons with his predecessor, instead seizing upon the opportunity to prove himself on the biggest stage.

“You can look at it as the way to be the successor of someone who was really successful,” the Dutchman said in his first Liverpool news conference. “But I look at it in a way that that is ideal because there is an opportunity to win something.”

While Slot’s understated, straight-talking persona has been held up as a deficiency amid the trials and tribulations of a turbulent campaign, his measured approach was popular with the squad last season and helped to bring the best out of several players — including Ryan Gravenberch, whose evolution from fringe player to midfield lynchpin was fundamental to Liverpool’s title success.

“We are God-believing people, and we think God sent Arne to us and to Liverpool,” the midfielder’s father, Ryan Gravenberch Snr., told ESPN in November 2024.

Five months later, even those Liverpool fans who do not subscribe to a particular faith were counting their blessings when Slot helped to deliver one of Anfield’s greatest ever days as the Reds clinched the title against Tottenham Hotspur. Having been denied the chance to celebrate the club’s previous triumph in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, this was a party for the ages — an outpouring of relief and unbridled emotion that is unlikely to be matched for a generation.

When the dust settles on his tenure, perhaps Slot’s part in inciting such stirring sentiment should be regarded as his greatest accomplishment of all. Indeed, maybe its only rival should be the impeccable manner in which the 47-year-old presided over one of the darkest moments in the club’s history following the death of beloved striker Diogo Jota, and his brother André Silva, in a car accident last July.

“What I take comfort in [is that] in the last month of his life he was a champion in everything,” Slot told club media in the aftermath of the tragedy. “A champion for his family, which is the main and most important thing, because he got married. A champion for his country because he won the Nations League, [with] a country that he cared about so much, because he also wore the flag when we had celebrations.

“And, of course, a champion for us by winning the Premier League.”

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It was a poignant tribute that spoke not to Slot’s coaching acumen or managerial pedigree, but of his qualities as a human being. In spite of all the challenges he has had to navigate this term, that sense of dignity has never wavered. Ultimately, though, modern football is a ruthless beast, and the groundswell of discontent within the fanbase — plus the growing perception of disillusionment within the dressing room — made his position untenable.

Liverpool’s ponderous style of play under Slot did not align with the club’s appetite for front-footed, attacking football, and the lack of tangible improvement over the course of the campaign was alarming.

A change feels like it is in the best interests of all parties, but that does not mean that history should be unkind to Slot. After Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Brentford last weekend, Slot passed through the mixed zone after completing what we now know was his final news conference as Liverpool boss.

“Thank you, guys,” the Dutchman said with a smile as he headed towards the exit.

While his Anfield career did not ultimately have a happy ending, the indelible mark he has left on the club means that gratitude should — in the long-term, at least — be reciprocated.