The offers were always going to come in for Arne Slot.
His successes in previous years mean clubs and national teams across the world place his name high up on their lists of targets for vacant managerial positions.
After all, there aren’t many out-of-work managers with league titles in two different countries, especially where one of those was as recent as 2025 and in the Premier League, with Liverpool.
The big news was never going to be the interest, of which Slot has had plenty post-Anfield. It was always going to be the destination he chose.
That, according to sources with knowledge of the 47-year-old Dutchman’s thinking, who like all of those spoken to for this article asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, will ideally be within the recognised European elite, as Slot has his eyes firmly fixed on another experience with a club competing for honours in a top-five league somewhere on his home continent. If he can do it at Liverpool, he can do it anywhere, right?
That’s why, for now, those sources say a move to somewhere like the Saudi Pro League doesn’t hold any great appeal. Al Ahli, who are set to lose their manager Matthias Jaissle to Newcastle United, had shortlisted Slot as a potential replacement, but are unlikely to receive any encouragement.
There’s an interesting opportunity available with the Netherlands national team following Ronald Koeman’s exit after a disappointing World Cup campaign this summer, and unsurprisingly, Slot’s name has been mentioned in those quarters, too.
Yet the desire for another crack at managing in one of the top leagues in Europe remains strong.
Slot has stayed quiet and out of the limelight since he was sacked by Liverpool a week after the end of his second season in charge, instead choosing to do the talking in his own head. No doubt he’ll have debriefed the good and the bad at Anfield and he’s already preparing for a new adventure, wherever that may be.
Slot won the title with Liverpool last year in his debut season (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
At what point he decides his creative juices are flowing sufficiently to throw himself back into the lion’s den depends entirely on the project concerned. He’s certainly earned the right to be selective, having won the Premier League just over a year ago, having been heavily coveted prior to that.
He’s also still relatively young and has only experienced six years as a top-flight head coach. His next job won’t make or break him, but it’s crucial after a high-pressured, all-encompassing role at Liverpool, where he left with his first blemish on an otherwise impressive track record, that he picks it carefully.
The blessing of extra family time, an extended holiday and a period out of the spotlight often refreshes managers, until they start getting an itch. It’s not the long days or the press conferences they miss but the dressing room, the small daily wins, and the buzz of matchday.
Slot was so good at his job for so long that it would be weird if he weren’t setting the bar high for his next job.
There will be plenty of clubs willing to focus on his body of work leading up to that difficult second season in England, rather than the reasons for his exit, when they are considering change.
Two of his Liverpool assistants, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Sipke Hulshoff, wasted no time getting back into football as they quickly moved to Feyenoord as head coach (Slot’s job before he went to Anfield as Jurgen Klopp’s successor) and assistant, respectively. Slot, however, has preferred to take his time and wait for the perfect opportunity.
For a while, he propelled himself into a position of managerial royalty. A guy who seemingly could do no wrong.
First at AZ, who were neck-and-neck with Ajax at the top of the 2019-20 Eredivisie table under him before the pandemic halted the race after 25 games and the Dutch league decided not to crown champions for that season. Then, joining Feyenoord the following year, he transformed a club desperate for change and delivered only their second domestic title this century. And most recently, he took on the daunting challenge of replacing the beloved Klopp at Liverpool and won the Premier League at the first time of asking.
His downfall on Merseyside, however, was as sharp as his rise, and while the circumstances of his swift post-season exit were surprising, it was not totally unexpected.
Liverpool were dreadful as champions, losing 19 of their 57 games in all competitions (20 if you count being beaten on penalties by Crystal Palace in the Community Shield), and conceding more goals (53) than in any previous 38-game Premier League campaign. They also lacked an identity towards the end as injuries ripped through the squad and key players from previous years were sorely missed.
Granted, Slot struggled to halt the slide, but he can’t be criticised for being the problem then and not praised for being the solution a year before.
Most sensible observers will recognise that his level of influence sits somewhere in the middle.
Yes, he pulled together a group through clear instructions, tactical masterplans and key in-game changes to make Liverpool the best team in the country, and yes, he lost his magic touch last season while also failing to come up with the answers that only a head coach could provide.
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But one bad season at Liverpool will not put off suitors across Europe in the times ahead. Nor will it ruin a reputation that saw him mixing with the most respected names in the world not so long ago. He’s also 47, not 57, so he’s got time. Saudi and the broader Gulf region’s riches can wait for now as he continues to reboot.
What he lacked at Liverpool was the know-how to escape from a crisis. He admitted himself that he was not used to losing more than two games in a row over a short managerial career, and when results spiralled out of control, he couldn’t fix it.
Perhaps in time, the way it ended will be a blessing.
If he bounces back successfully, then he’s ticked the box of overcoming adversity. Most managers can look back on a difficult moment that changed them for the better, while others have to accept that they achieved heights never to be experienced again.
When Antonio Conte left Chelsea in March 2018, 10 months after leading them to the Premier League title, he didn’t win a league again until topping Serie A with Inter three years later.
Luis Enrique was insecure in his position at Barcelona at the end of 2014 before going on to win the treble that season. His subsequent spell in charge of Spain’s national team was far less fruitful, but since returning to club football with Paris Saint-Germain in summer 2023 he has won back-to-back Champions Leagues.
One man Slot was regularly compared to at the back end of his Liverpool reign was compatriot and former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag. Former Liverpool defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher discussed the similar trend of performing well in their first season in England and then dropping off into the second.
Perhaps the fact they were both shaven-headed Dutchmen who had worked wonders in their homeland before moving to the Premier League made it an easy comparison, even if the finer details were nuanced. Yet Ten Hag’s next job after United was at Bayer Leverkusen in Germany, where he only lasted three games. Whatever happens next for Slot, it feels very unlikely he will have the same experience.
After two and a half months of silence, and with the new European season looming, it’s only a matter of time before an opportunity presents itself for Slot.
If it’s in one of Europe’s major leagues, with a club looking for a refresh, he’s ready to show why so many previously considered him one of the best in the business.
