Ipswich, Aug 16 The 2024/25 Premier League season is set to begin and Liverpool will be traveling to Portman Road Stadium to face Ipswich Town, the team that will be playing their first top flight in 22 years, for their opening game on Saturday.
New Liverpool head coach, Arne Slot spoke to reporters in the pre-game presser to address his thoughts regarding his team going into the new season. Amongst many topics, one that Slot emphasised upon was the rumoured departure of Colombian forward Luiz Diaz, which the Dutchman dismissed.
"His future is with us because I like a lot what I’ve seen in the last 10 days and I saw the same last season. He's had a big impact on Liverpool seasons and I’m hoping that he has a big impact in the upcoming season as well," said Slot to reporters in the pre-match press conference.
Diaz was reported to be close to making a shocking switch to rivals Manchester City but the rumours have fizzled out over recent days.
Liverpool were one of the three contenders in the Premier League title race but fell down the ranks in the final leg of the season, which saw them finish third in the table in what was Jurgen Klopp’s final season with the Reds after spending nine years at Merseyside.
Slot has a mammoth task ahead of him as Klopp is considered to be a local legend in Liverpool and was one of the major cogs who saw the team turn their fortune around and win a Champions League and Premier League trophy.
So far, the signs have not been positive for Liverpool fans, as their side is the only team in the Premier League which has not made a single signing. Their efforts to try and rope in Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubmendi came to a dead end as the Spanish midfielder decided to stay at his current club, a fact which was confirmed by Slot and further elaborated the club is still ‘ trying to strengthen the squad.’
"In the background Richard [Hughes] is trying to strengthen the squad as he can but unfortunately Zubimendi decided not to come and he did every effort, he tried everything to bring him in, but if a player doesn’t want to come it’s obvious that he is not coming," added the new head coach.
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