It’s thought Arne Slot was partly targeted by Liverpool for his ability to squeeze the most out of a squad and over-achieve.
His Eredivisie title win of last season was revered in the Netherlands due to the fact he essentially had to rebuild a side that had lost a number of key stars, including their top scorer. Most of his signings have been a success.
As per The Times, Slot will assume the role of ‘head coach’ rather than ‘manager’ at Anfield, meaning he will have less sway over transfers although will still have some influence. Given his track record, his nous should be utilised, albeit with a little bit of guidance.
Liverpool operated on the smallest net spend out of the big six Premier League clubs by several hundreds of millions during Jurgen Klopp’s reign. Feyenoord are one of the big-hitters in Holland but have raindrop revenues compared to Liverpool.
In fact, all of Slot’s 10 most expensive signings cost a combined sum of £53.32m – just two-thirds of a Virgil van Dijk. The ECHO has looked at these 10 recruits and rated them either a success, a failure or neither.
10 – Patrik Walemark: Neither success or failure
Fee: £2.77m in January 2022 (from Hacken, in Sweden)
Position: Right winger
Age when bought: 20
Walemark tallied two goals in 21 appearances last season before he required major surgery on a muscle injury in February 2023 that wiped him out for the second half of the season. He is currently on loan at Heerenveen and is getting back up to speed with three goals and four assists in 21 league matches.
9 – Javairo Dilrosun: Failure
Fee: £3.41m in July 2022 (from Hertha Berlin)
Position: Right winger
Age when bought: 24
Dilrosun had an acceptable campaign in his maiden year, recording six goals and eight assists, but struggled to get into Slot’s side during the first half of this term. He was afforded just four starts and secured a £3.93m move to Mexican club Club America in January, less than 18 months after his arrival.
8 – Igor Paixao: Success
Fee: £3.84m in August 2022 (from Coritiba, in Brazil)
Position: Left winger
Age when bought: 22
Just about a success, Paixao was in and out of the starting XI in his debut campaign but is now a staple under Slot. He has netted nine goals and recorded three assists in 28 league matches this season, scoring twice in this month’s 6-0 thrashing of Ajax. He’s started 23 of his Eredivisie outings.
7 – Calvin Stengs: Success
Fee: £5.12m in July 2023 (from OGC Nice)
Position: Attacking midfielder
Age when bought: 24
Stengs is a very important cog to Feyenoord’s set-up and has registered seven goals and a massive 16 assists in 40 matches across all competitions. He played his first Netherlands game in two-and-a-half years in November, scoring a hat-trick against Gibraltar.
6 – Santiago Gimenez: Success
Fee: £5.12m in July 2022 (from Cruz Azul, in Mexico)
Position: Centre-forward
Age when bought: 21
Gimenez has been a resounding success for Slot, with the striker currently third in the Eredivisie goals chart. He has fired home 21 goals in 29 league matches, tallying five assists along the way.
He scored the first of two hat-tricks this season against Ajax in September and currently sits on 47 goals in 85 matches across his stay at Feyenoord.
5 – Ramiz Zerrouki: Neither success or failure
Fee: £6.15m in June 2023 (from FC Twente)
Position: Defensive midfielder
Age when bought: 24
The jury is still out on the 34-cap Algerian international, who has started just 12 of his 33 matches all season. Interestingly, he was not trusted for November’s home Champions League group clash with Atletico Madrid, having scored his sole goal of the term against Lazio a month earlier.
4 – Quinten Timber: Success
Fee: £6.32m in July 2022 (from FC Utrecht)
Position: Central midfielder
Age when bought: 21
The brother of Arsenal defender Jurrien, Timber’s form has been so eye-catching that he has been linked with a Premier League move. Having had to come back from a knee injury last season, he is an integral part of Slot’s team, playing 43 matches this term with eight goals and nine assists to his name.
3 – Luka Ivanusec: Neither success or failure
Fee: £6.66m in August 2023 (from Dinamo Zagreb)
Position: Left winger
Age when bought: 24
The Croat has scored seven goals in 38 games this season but four of those were in UEFA competition qualifying matches against lesser opposition. He has started 12 Eredivisie matches this season and just two of his goals have come in the league.
To his defence, a ligament injury and a tendon issue have impacted both ends of his campaign and he possibly would have bolstered his stats further without them. So at this stage, it’d be harsh to cast his transfer as a failure.
2 – Ayase Ueda: Failure
Fee: £6.83m in August 2023 (from Cercle Brugge, in Belgium)
Position: Centre-forward
Age when bought: 24
The Japanese international has failed to get going since his summer switch. He’s started just two league games all season and scored more goals at the Asian games (four) than he has for Feyenoord (three). He’s yet to play a full 90 minutes for his new club.
1 – David Hancko: Success
Fee: £7.1m in August 2022 (from Sparta Prague)
Position: Centre-back
Age when bought: 24
Experienced Slovakia star Hancko has played in every single match this season and was instrumental to last year’s title success. Across his 90 games for Feyenoord, he has kept a credible 35 clean sheets and picked up just six yellow cards, also chipping in with 10 goals and eight assists. Definitely value for money.
