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Arne Slot believes the emphatic nature of Liverpool’s title triumph and the emotional celebrations that followed will help the club beat off competition for their main transfer targets this summer.
The Liverpool head coach gave his players two days off as reward for clinching a record-equalling 20th league title on Sunday, when a party was held at Anfield after the 5-1 rout of Tottenham. Slot’s celebrations continued with his wife’s birthday meal on Monday before his focus switched back to business on Tuesday.
Slot described last Sunday as one of the best days of his life and claimed it would motivate his squad to recreate the unforgettable scenes at Anfield next season. He believes Liverpool’s transfer targets will also want to be part of a “special” club.
“To experience this once is really nice,” Slot said. “But we would love to experience it one more time. It has been special for all the fans and it’s definitely been special for the players and for us as well. Now we know why, when we start next season, what we do it for.
“But it definitely helps to attract new players as well because mostly the players that we want, we are not the only club who thinks they are good players, so they have more options. Then maybe it helps for them to see that the way we do things here is special. Until now, if I spoke to players who we wanted to bring in, I always told them that our fans are really special and it is special to play at this club. But after Sunday I don’t think I ever have to tell anyone again how special our fans are because that was unbelievable.”
One advantage of winning the Premier League in April, according to Slot, is that it gives Liverpool more time to work on transfers and prepare for next season. He intends to use the final four matches as groundwork for next season by rotating his squad more than usual.
He said of plans for next season: “I already did this a little bit in the background. It’s not like after we won the league was the first time Richard [Hughes, Liverpool’s sporting director] called me and said: ‘OK, these are the players we are interested in.’ That would be a bit weird. But there’s a bit more time now to have these conversations.
“But let there be no mistake, we want to win every single game we play. The players will be prepared in the same way [for Chelsea on Sunday] as they’ve been prepared for all the other games.”
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Slot’s title celebrations showed he will not lose focus. “Monday was my wife’s birthday, she was here together with the children and some friends, so we had lunch together,” he said. “Tuesday they left and I had left my car at Anfield so went back to pick it up. And Wednesday we trained.
“It’s not like the whole world has changed by winning this league title. Sometimes you think before you win: ‘Oh, probably everything is going to change.’ But when I woke up Monday morning I still felt the same person. I felt really happy, but it doesn’t completely change you in your life all of a sudden.”
