There are many questions around Slot’s transfer dealings, although owners Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes must also take responsibility.
Liverpool’s key pair of power brokers were showered with bouquets in the summer. Now they must take the brickbats.
Liverpool appeared so committed to the Isak deal, the player so exiled at Newcastle after his one-man strike to get a move, that it felt like they could not turn away, even after signing Ekitike.
Did they really need Isak? The more you watched Liverpool before he broke a leg while scoring a goal in a victory at Tottenham Hotspur in December, the more he resembled the most expensive vanity purchase in Liverpool history.
Isak arrived unfit then got a groin injury. When he did play, at the expense of the one signing who was playing well at that point, Ekitike, he looked listless and off the pace, poor value for money at such an exorbitant fee.
The broken leg was another serious disruption for a player meant to provide Liverpool with a lethal spearhead. Even his return was interrupted by “minor” fitness issues.
Wirtz, whose deployment behind the strikers disrupted Liverpool’s midfield bedrock to leave them horribly vulnerable all season, has been shifted around from his central role to the flanks as Slot has sought answers. He has shown glimpses of real class but, like Liverpool, nowhere near enough.
And having collected new signings at such a rate, did it mean Slot and Liverpool pushed a key capture down their list of priorities then failed to get it done?
Crystal Palace captain and England defender Guehi was a top target, not merely as partner to Virgil van Dijk but as cover to Ibrahima Konate, whose contract is coming to an end.
Cue the perfect storm.
Palace refused to sell. Konate’s form went into sharp decline. Van Dijk suddenly looked fallible. A solution was lost as Quansah had been sold.
When January came, Manchester City needed defensive reinforcements and paid a bargain £20m for Guehi, £15m less than Liverpool belatedly agreed.
It was intriguing to hear Slot describe Guehi as a “great signing” after he was outstanding in Manchester City’s win at Anfield.
And through it all, Slot lost the golden touch that was so assured in his first season.
He changed formations and personnel without success. The substitutions that worked so well last season now whiffed off desperation – such as defender Konate for striker Ekitike after 55 minutes of the 3-0 home loss to Nottingham Forest – accompanied by some delusional post-match verdicts and talk of “positives” when there were none.
The season started with Liverpool looking gung-ho and wide open. Wins were secured through the high-wire act of last-gasp winners, but once Crystal Palace turned the tables with an injury time goal at Selhurst Park in September to inflict their first defeat, it all fell apart.
