Every word Arne Slot said on Giovanni Leoni, Marc Guehi and Liverpool's title defense

The new Premier League season is almost upon us, and all eyes will be on Liverpool in around 24 hours' time as Arne Slot's side begins the defense of its title.

Having missed out on the first piece of silverware in the 2025/26 campaign after defeat to Crystal Palace in the Community Shield, the Reds will be aiming to shake off their penalty shootout heartbreak and make the perfect start in the league.

Of course, with a little over two weeks remaining in the transfer window, there is the possibility of the Reds doing even more business in what has already been a busy summer, and it seems a new addition is already on the way in Giovanni Leoni, while Marc Guehi could follow him.

Here's everything Slot had to say in his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool's opening Premier League game against Bournemouth.

Giovanni Leoni deal and Marc Guehi pursuit

"The clubs have agreed a deal, but he [Leoni] hasn't signed for us yet. The moment when he signs for us, I can go into more detail.

"And the other one is, of course, the answer you always get from me. He's not our player, and unfortunately he was the captain of the team who we lost against last Sunday.

"If you want to have any talks about him, you should go to Palace, to [Oliver] Glasner and ask him his opinion about him."

How ready Liverpool is for its title defense

"As ready as we can be. I think I’ve emphasized last week the fact that we have lost three or four starters and, unfortunately, Ryan Gravenberch was not able to play last week and is not able to play this week.

"So that means if you exclude the goalkeeper from the 10 outfield positions, five were different than the main starters we had last season. If you then look at the quality we bring on the ball, I’m very happy with that. Without the ball, it’s eight out of 10 times also very good – but the aim at this club is not eight out of 10 times, it’s 10 out of 10 times. And that is the fine-tuning we still need to find defensively.

"That went in pre-season one time better than the other one. Against Bilbao I was really, really pleased with our defensive performance because we didn’t give away any chance I think at all from open play. But we did concede [from] two set-pieces. Against Palace, the main chances we conceded were when we lost the balls ourselves.

"So it has been ups and downs where the downs were not so low, but I think there is the main part for us still to improve. Which is normal. I think for everyone in pre-season it’s normal that there’s still room for improvement, let alone if we not only lost three or four starters, I think we’ve lost five to six players that played quite a lot of minutes for us last season and we brought in four new ones, so then it’s normal that there’s a little bit of adaptation. But we are definitely ready for the league to start."

What he expects in the new season

"The reason why that is so difficult [to retain the title] lies mainly in the fact that there’s so many competitors that can also win the league over here.

"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."

What to expect from Bournemouth

"[They are] intense. They made it really difficult for us last season. We beat them 3-0, where you feel like ‘What is he talking about, difficult?’ But if you look at the game, they had the first big chance of the game, they scored a goal which was fractionally offside.

"Then we three times, I wouldn’t say counter-attacked them but we were very fast in moving the ball from back to forward. And all of a sudden at half-time we were 3-0 up, and then I thought – which I always thought when I was a manager in Holland – ‘This is going to be four, five or six-nil’.

"But the mentality Bournemouth showed in the second half, they just kept on going. That’s the mentality they had throughout the whole season afterwards as well. They also lost some players, they also brought in good new ones – as they’ve shown in the last few years, that they can always bring in good new players. And away, it was even more difficult for us.

"So, very good team, good manager and a challenge for us on Friday. But looking forward to it because an evening game at Anfield is something that everyone is looking forward to."

How Florian Wirtz is settling in

"We have a very good player-care department, so I'm not looking for houses together with him or these kind of things. But on the pitch and on the training ground and in videos, he needs help for him to understand the way we want to play – that's not 180 degrees different than Xabi Alonso.

"The system is different but we want to be intense, Xabi Alonso wanted to be intense. He liked to dominate possession, Xabi tried to bring him in positions we want to try to bring him in, so a lot of things are the same for him.

"But it's true he has to adjust to England, to the league, to the intensity and to his new teammates as well. But I think if you saw the games, his adjustment went quite well – better than even expected, and we already expected a lot.

"He might be young but he already won a lot. Factually, we can see him as a young player but in terms of his experience that he's already having, I don't see him as a young player. He won the league in Germany, won the cup, played for his country numerous times.

"And apart from that, his mentality is maybe his biggest strength – and that says a lot because if you see him play you're like, 'Are you serious?' because he's so creative.

"But how mentally strong he is, he doesn't get distracted at all by a transfer fee or anything else. I think good players always find a way to play well in good teams, and he is a good player and he plays in a good team."

Improving Liverpool defensively

"Don’t forget we missed [Alexis] Mac Allister as well in the last part of last season and he hardly was able to play in our pre-season, only now recently he has played a few games, played a few minutes.

"But it’s not that I’m not happy about certain parts, I was [saying] just a second ago that the standard here is 10 out of 10. So, it’s not one or two things we don’t do well, no. In general we do all well but well is not good enough and there we have to go one step up in certain aspects. Not in all aspects, in certain aspects.

"And then there’s something like against Bilbao, we were really good defensively but conceded two set-pieces. And the games before, we also had mixed teams so then you can also accept a little bit better that maybe timings between players were not as good as when you play the starters that have played so many times together. So, there are reasons for it.

"Like I just said, mixed teams; new players coming in, Virgil [van Dijk] being sick against Bilbao, Alisson [Becker] not being there, Macca being injured, Ryan [Gravenberch] not able to play and new players brought in. But all of this is definitely not an excuse when we start the league on Friday because we will 100 per cent be ready on Friday."

How Frimpong and Bradley will perform with Salah

"In my opinion, Jeremie and Conor Bradley are similar types, although Jeremie is maybe better in the one-v-ones than Conor is.

"But I think Jeremie and Conor can both contribute to Mo’s output because if you play against these two, you know you have to be aware of these two as well. So, it normally gives Mo even more space to get the one-v-ones. Because if we isolate Jeremie in a one-v-one it’s difficult for the other team and if we isolate Mo in a one-v-one it’s difficult for the other team as well.

"Where maybe last season they [the opposition] could give a little bit more help because Trent [Alexander-Arnold] was a little bit more behind the ball, which was also dangerous because when Mo brought it back, Trent could deliver one of his famous crosses.

"So, it’s different types but I think both types – and Trent proved it together with Mo, Trent brought the best out of Mo – we think, I think, the same thing is going to happen with Conor and Jeremie with Mo in that regard."

Szoboszlai in a deeper role

"I think he can play both roles really well, and he has his quality in both roles, and things he can improve in both roles.

"What stands out with Dominik is the way he can press. I don’t think there are many midfielders in the world you can find that are better in the intensity he can press with. But if he’s [playing] at 10 I think the improvement he can make is playing between the lines, finding the balls there and getting not the end product in goals but more the through balls.

"And if he’s playing behind the ball, I think that’s not new for him, but he hasn’t played there a lot last season, so sometimes you need to adjust to your teammates and in your positioning. I think he’s had a really good pre-season. He didn’t play his best game against Palace but for the rest he had a very good preseason."