Graeme Souness says Arne Slot simply ‘must get’ one Liverpool player ‘on side’ immediately
Graeme Souness has urged Arne Slot to get one Liverpool player ‘on side’ as soon as he takes charge at Anfield.
The 45-year-old is set to be confirmed as the Reds’ new head coach imminently, and he faces the unenviable task of trying to emulate one of the club’s greatest-ever managers in Jurgen Klopp, under whom everyone in the current squad has played either the majority or entirety of their time on Merseyside.
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Speaking on the Up Front podcast, the former LFC captain thinks the Feyenoord boss must try to win over the current holder of the armband straight away, in order to form a powerful ally from the get-go.
Souness said of Virgil van Dijk: “He will know everything about Slot, being Dutch himself. Thinking about it, he is the one [Slot] must get on side. Slot must get Van Dijk on side.”
Fabrizio Romano has claimed over the past 24 hours that Slot ‘will have a direct conversation with’ Van Dijk almost immediately at Liverpool to try and convince the defender to be part of the new project at Anfield, so it appears that the incoming boss will heed Souness’ advice.
Should the new head coach succeed in getting the captain ‘on side’, not only will he establish an important ally from an early stage, it could also pave the way for the 32-year-old to extend his stay with the Reds, with his current contract expiring next summer.
Winning over one of the most crucial players at LFC would be an enormous feather in Slot’s cap straight away, while it could also help to command not just the respect of his skipper but indeed the squad as a whole.
Hopefully that’s a conversation that the two Dutchmen can have in the first few days of the incoming boss’ tenure at Liverpool, thus securing Klopp’s impending successor a valuable early win.
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