Every word from Arne Slot on Ibrahima Konate, Federico Chiesa and transfers

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot spoke on a broad range of topics on Friday ahead of the Merseyside club's Premier League trip to Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth this weekend

Arne Slot spoke to the media on Friday ahead of the trip to Bournemouth(Image: LFC TV)

Arne Slot held his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of the trip to Bournemouth in the Premier League.

The Reds travel to the south coast in fourth place, having drawn the last four league matches in a row. However, Slot said on Friday that he still feels confident about the Reds’ chances of a top-four finish, and praised his team's improving performances, as well as the individual levels of Dominik Szoboszlai and Milos Kerkez.

Slot also provided the latest team news, including updates on Ibrahima Konate, Federico Chiesa and Joe Gomez. He was also asked about transfers in the final 10 days of the January window. Here are the best bits from Slot’s media briefing.

Szoboszlai becoming a leader

"Dom is having a very good season. He has had two moments in our recent games which was not of his standard: missing a penalty is not common for him, but happens in football many times, and his mistake against Barnsley was something you don’t see often, and he acknowledged that.

"Apart from the great goal he scored, smart goal, with a little bit of help from my coaching staff, I think he also showed how important he is when we don’t have the ball, and when we have the ball, because he gave a great assist to Hugo Ekitike, who unfortunately hit the woodwork.

"I think it always starts, if you want to be a leader, by leading by example. That's what he's done since the one and-half years I'm here. He's always the one that without the ball is incredible in the way he can press, the intensity, he keeps running backwards, forwards.

"I think he improved this season on the ball compared to last season, where last season I already liked him. But this season, he plays with even more confidence and is more often involved in chances and goals. He's having a good season, as some other individuals are as well."

Latest on Konate

“I spoke to him a few times. These are private matters and should stay between us, but it’s very obvious if something like this, a player needs time to be there for his family and also time for himself.”

Ibrahima Konate is expected to miss Saturday's trip to Bournemouth(Image: 2026 Getty Images)

Kerkez improvement

"If you talk about Milos and a lot of signings, we have made you can see the progression they are making in terms of adjustment to the team, but definitely also in power. For Milos, it didn’t happen many times he was playing at the weekend and also during the week, a few times, I've played Robbo during the week, but Milos is getting stronger and stronger and is playing better and better and better.

"He is improving, which is normal. I got the question about the signings and I said if you look at the age of our signings, they will not only be better in the second half of this season, they will be better next season and the season afterwards.

"That is also the way this club is run, we sign young players where we think there is a lot of room for development even if we think they are really good. He is improving, but not only him, all young players do, and we have to make sure all the players stay at their elite level."

Team style improving

"I think you can include the Arsenal game to it as well, it was also a good game of ours. We have played, in my opinion, many, many good games this season, which doesn’t come to light if you have lost too many games during a season, because people are mainly looking at the league table and then not a lot that we do is positive. But we have played quite a lot of good games, quite a lot of good individual performances.

"We have spoken about Florian [Wirtz], everyone has spoken a lot about him that he lacked goals and assists at the beginning of the season but he was so close to it every single time and even now, when he is scoring and having assists, he could almost double it with the chances he is having or the chances he gives to his team-mates. I can only see so many positives from this team in terms of the progress we made, but we had to adapt so many times throughout the season, it was hardly any time we could play the same team.

Slot said Joe Gomez will need to be assessed before the Bournemouth game(Image: Getty Images)

“When Hugo [Ekitike] scored his first goal against Tottenham, he was injured, when Conor [Bradley] a good game well against Arsenal and Jeremie [Frimpong] played good on the right side Conor got a big injury and that has happened a lot of times.

"Against Frankfurt, when Hugo and Alex [Isak] played together, Alex picked up an injury so every time we have to adapt and every time we try to find a new way of getting the best out of this team and sometimes that works better than other times. But I can assure you we are already in a good place, but this team, this club, will be a in a better place the day after and the day after."

Not expecting any January arrivals

“Yeah, that’s what I expect. But, as I always say, if there’s an opportunity in the market, or if we think we can strengthen the squad, then this club will always try to do so, but at this moment in time, I expect it to stay mainly the same.”

Gomez demands

"What we always try and do is prepare players for the demands of the game. If we think we need him as a full-back, we prepare him as a full-back. He played a very good game at centre-back, but I also liked him a lot when he played at full-back against Inter Milan. He has shown he is one of the few players who doesn’t have to play a lot of games to play at a very high level.

"That is very positive and he has not been available always, but this season, much more than last season. It’s good to have him; he played a good game off the ball, but I also remember a few balls through the lines that were really effective for the 3-0. Two days turnaround, hasn’t played many games, so let’s see how he feels today and if he is able to start on Saturday."

Confident of gaining top-four spot

"I am very confident because I work with these players every single day and I see the qualities they have. But it is always hard to predict the future. If these players all stay available, I think we are in a very good place. But sometimes in football you can pick up injuries from nowhere. I didn’t expect to not have Giovanni Leoni, Alexander Isak and Conor Bradley available for such a long time.

"But I think these teams have shown many times, if they are available, if they are fit, we are very competitive against any team in the world. So there’s a lot of confidence for me looking to the future, but fitness is of course difficult to predict. Even if we pick up injures, we will still be able to compete."

Team news and Chiesa injury

“Federico wasn’t able to be on the bench. There was a recovery session yesterday, so we have to wait and see today. It’s difficult to say if he will be available for Bournemouth. We don’t expect him to be out for long. It would be 50/50 if he’s available for tomorrow.

"For the rest, no one picked a knock or had a problem after the game, but sometimes when you start training again, you can feel something, but expect all players to be available for tomorrow. Calvin Ramsay, who is not available for the Champions League, will be available for the Premier League so that’s another player to add."