Diego Simeone is not the most difficult football coach to get, but Arne Slot’s reaction says it all.
The Atlético Madrid coach became aggressive with his Dutch counterpart after Feyenoord beat them in a 2021 friendly, shoving Slot in the chest and launching a verbal volley.
Slot’s Stone Island team suggested he might have been ready for a fight, but instead he stood his ground and smirked at Simeone, who backed away.
It was the sign of a man who does not shy away from a challenge.
The Feyenoord coach is ruthlessly ambitious and a control freak who demands total control at a club. But he also has emotional intelligence, knows how to create team ethics and plays attractive football.
Feyenoord manager Arne Slot has emerged as Liverpool’s favorite candidate to succeed Jurgen Klopp, with the two clubs in talks.
Atlético de Madrid coach Diego Simeone tried to fight with Slot after a friendly in 2021
In response to the push, Slot, who was carrying Stone Island, simply smiled at Simeone.
So there are reasons both for and against his suitability for the unenviable task of succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Slot, 45, who has just backed up last season’s Eredivisie title by delivering the KNVB Cup to Rotterdam, has emerged as a strong contender for the Anfield job.
Indeed, on Wednesday morning it emerged that talks had already begun between Liverpool and Feyenoord with a compensation fee set at £8.5m.
At first glance, Slot’s 4-3-3 formation, intensity of pressing and high-energy attack have many similarities to Klopp’s ‘heavy metal’ (Slot likes his rap music more).
But Liverpool’s vacancy requires much more than a good tactician.
For nine years, Klopp has led not just a club but at times a city defiant in its own identity and independence.
That emotional toll finally caught up with him, but not before he won the game’s highest honors.
Liverpool’s new manager must not only perform in Klopp’s shadow, but must somehow maintain his boundless energy and forge the same bonds with a demanding fan base and players who are not his own.
The experiences of David Moyes and Unai Emery, after Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, have shown how difficult it is to follow a coach of legendary stature.
Succeeding the immensely popular Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool is an unenviable challenge.
Slot handed the Eredivisie league title to Feyenoord last season, their first since 2017
Some would say that the man following Klopp is in a situation similar to nothing, even if Liverpool fans would surely be understanding and patient if there was a regression next season.
Like Klopp, Slot had a respectable but unspectacular playing career with teams like FC Zwolle and NAC Breda rather than Ajax or Feyenoord.
But when it comes to training, Slot sees no reason to curb his ambitions, even if it has upset people.
AZ Alkmaar abruptly fired him in December 2020 because owner Robert Eenhoorn learned he had attended a clandestine meeting with Feyenoord and agreed to replace Dick Advocaat.
Even while winning trophies at Feyenoord, Slot has not been afraid to talk about his personal career path.
“My next step will not be a club in Holland,” he said in 2023. “If that is my next step, then I have completely failed.
“The next normal step will be to go abroad and I have always said that the best league in the world is the Premier League.”
The Premier League has once again fluttered its eyelashes across the North Sea. Crystal Palace were interested and Leeds made Slot their first-choice replacement for Jesse Marsch in February 2023, although negotiations did not progress.
Tottenham Hotspur thought they had persuaded him to become their manager in May 2023 before Slot surprisingly decided to stay at Feyenoord and Daniel Levy turned to Ange Postecoglou.
Slot prefers attacking and energetic football, something that would earn him favor at Anfield
But Slot has been able to take control of every aspect of Feyenoord’s operation, something that would not be possible at Liverpool.
Given that Slot demands a significant degree of control over all aspects of the club’s operations, one wonders how that would have worked under Levy.
There was friction when he arrived at Feyenoord, with several scouts and recruitment specialists leaving the club due to how Slot wanted them to work.
He certainly wouldn’t get that control at Anfield, although it’s fair that he has plenty of say in recruiting to evolve Liverpool into their post-Klopp image.
The other big unknown is how Slot would handle the intense scrutiny that the Liverpool job would entail, especially if things go wrong.
While the Dutch media and fans are not known for holding back their direct opinions, Liverpool, with their global fame, are several levels above Feyenoord when it comes to the pressure at play.
His time at De Kuip has been predominantly successful: he took them to the inaugural Europa Conference League final, where they lost to José Mourinho’s Roma, and then won their first league title since 2017.
Feyenoord celebrates winning the Dutch Cup after beating NEC Nijmegen last weekend
PSV Eindhoven have been superior in the Eredivisie this season, but Feyenoord beat NEC last weekend to win the Cup.
But given that even a small number of matches without a win can constitute a disaster in Liverpool, Slot has not yet been stress tested in this way.
In fact, Bayern Munich are said to have looked at and rejected Slot because he doesn’t have that kind of experience yet.
What he will bring, like Klopp, is relentless positivity. Liverpool fans are already fawning over a video of one of their team talks, delivered in their perfect English, after Feyenoord beat Ajax 3-2 on their way to the championship.
Slot would look to replicate Klopp’s passion if he lands the Liverpool job in the coming weeks.
While Slot acknowledged that a first win in Amsterdam in 17 years was a pivotal moment, he was quick to remind his players that it was “just a win” and that the job wasn’t done yet.
You can certainly hear echoes of Klopp and his players were duly crowned champions two months later. In the end, it’s clear that his team will go through brick walls for him.
So Slot certainly has similarities with Klopp in terms of charisma and motivation, as well as perspective on how his teams should play their football.
The big unknown is what will happen at Liverpool when a figure as singular as Klopp is left out of the equation.
What is clear with Slot, however, is that he certainly wouldn’t shirk the challenge if it were presented to him.