Arne Slot criticizes 'certain pundits' as he defends Liverpool spending record

The Liverpool head coach suffered a 10th Premier League defeat of the season on Saturday and, speaking in his post-match press conference, it was suggested there is "little sympathy" for his situation

Arne Slot said certain pundits' criticism of Liverpool is too harsh

Arne Slot claimed Liverpool’s detractors are not looking at the bigger picture when it comes to the criticism of the Reds’ transfer spend.

The club parted with around £450 million (over $600M) on arrivals last summer, the biggest-ever expenditure by a Premier League club in one window. However, Liverpool also recouped significant fees from selling the likes of Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and Jarell Quansah, with the club’s net spend actually less than Arsenal’s.

While the Gunners look set to claim a first Premier League title in 22 years, Liverpool is destined to lose its crown. The Reds sit fifth in the table, and Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Brighton has further harmed their chances of earning a Champions League place this term.

Despite last summer’s transfer spend, Slot bemoaned his lack of options following the injuries to Alisson, Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike this week, in addition to the quick turnaround between the Galatasaray and Brighton fixtures.

Slot admitted the Seagulls were the better side at the Amex, but pointed to several decisive factors in that defeat. When it was put to Slot that there may be a “lack of sympathy” given last summer’s business, the Dutchman offered a defiant response.

“No, I have complete sympathy with that, for all the people who are saying this, because no-one in England is used to the fact that there are also clubs that are selling players.

It was another bruising afternoon for Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

“So usually in England when a club is buying [for] £450M, which we did, that's adding that to the already great team you are having. But this club has a different model.

“That no-one wants to see that and no-one wants to understand this, that I can also understand, because fans of other teams or certain pundits don't want to tell you that we've sold for £300M.

“Now if then the £150M player is never available, that's already one thing. If Giovanni Leoni has never been available because of his injury, that is already the second thing. So now we're already going underneath what we've sold.

Leoni has missed almost the whole season through injury

“Jeremie Frimpong is recently much more and more available and [Giorgi] Mamardashvili was one of the other signings for £450M, the second goalkeeper.

“It makes complete sense if you win the league last season and you spent £150M, not £450M, that expectations are high and those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.

“But at our club we are also looking at the situation and the things we had, the challenge we had during this season and then we might be a bit more realistic why this season has gone the way it has gone.

“But still it's not good enough. No matter how many excuses I can come up with, it's still not good enough, the position we're in right now.”