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Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has predicted that winning the Premier League this season will be harder than ever as his side gears up to kick off the new campaign against Bournemouth.
The Reds host the Cherries in the first game of the 2025/26 season, and both teams have had very different summers. While Slot has signed the likes of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike, Andoni Iraola has lost some key men, including Milos Kerkez, who is expected to start at left-back against his former club.
Once a deal is officially signed and sealed to bring in the 18-year-old defender Giovanni Leoni from Serie A outfit Parma, Liverpool will have spent more than $375 million (about £280 million) in this window, though it has also offset that with substantial sales.
With Arsenal and Manchester City having a higher net spent as things stand (though Liverpool could go big again to sign Alexander Isak if Newcastle opens the door to such a move), Slot thinks retaining the title will be a major challenge.
"The reason why it is so difficult [to retain the title] lies mainly in the fact that there are so many competitors that can also win the league over here," he said.
"To win it once is already very special, let alone if you can win it twice in three, four or five years. Or as we did, twice in five years and [Manchester] City did even better than us in the last few years.
"So that’s unbelievable if you’re able to do this in this league. And probably this year is going to be harder than every year before, because every team brings in new players, but our main competitors definitely did as well."
Liverpool tragically lost Diogo Jota in a car accident at the start of the summer, while Trent Alexander-Arnold left to sign for Real Madrid and Luis Diaz was sold to Bayern Munich for around $93 million (£66 million).
Last week, it was confirmed that Darwin Nunez had signed for Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League. Jarell Quansah moved to Bayer Leverkusen, Caoimhin Kelleher joined Brentford, and Harvey Elliott could yet depart, too.
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Jota's passing means the new campaign kicks off in circumstances unimaginable only a few weeks ago. The former Portugal striker and his brother will be remembered at Anfield before kick-off against Bournemouth.
Slot was also asked if everything the club has been through in the last few weeks would make winning the title this season even bigger than when he did so in his debut campaign at the helm.
"That is a question I hope you are going to ask me at the end of the season, and is impossible to answer now," he replied.
"You don’t know the challenges that are in front of you and how difficult it is going to be for us or another team to win the league, so it is impossible to answer now."
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