How good is Arne Slot? Feyenoord record assessed for leading next Liverpool manager candidate

Arne Slot won the Dutch cup final with Feyenoord last weekend.
Arne Slot won the Dutch cup final with Feyenoord last weekend. -Credit:Photo by ProShots/Icon Sport via Getty Images


Liverpool has been searching extensively for a new manager to take charge at Anfield. Jürgen Klopp has just five matches left at the helm and Feyenoord boss Arne Slot has emerged as a leading contender to take over from him.

Earlier in the week, The Athletic reported that Sporting CP head coach Rúben Amorim was increasingly unlikely to be the man chosen to replace Klopp. And now it has emerged that Slot is the preferred option for the Reds.

Liverpool has been impressed by Slot's high-intensity team and his style of play, according to The Times, as well as the Dutchman's track record of improving the players he has at his disposal. But just how good is he?

READ MORE: What Arne Slot 'thinks about Liverpool' having previously 'turned down' Tottenham and Chelsea

READ MORE: 'I've spoken to Arne Slot and he would be a really good Jürgen Klopp replacement at Liverpool'

Feyenoord won the league title last season, having only previously won it once this century. This year, the Eredivisie side sits second in the table. PSV is the runaway leader, ahead by nine points with four matches left to play.

But Slot has picked up silverware again, beating NEC Nijmegen (the team that Pep Lijnders briefly managed) in the Dutch cup final last weekend. Brazilian forward Igor Paixão scored the only goal of the game.

In the 146 matches that Slot has overseen at Feyenoord since taking over in 2021, he has won 94 times and lost 23, giving him a win rate of just under two-thirds. In that period, his side has scored 329 goals (an average of 2.25 per game) and conceded 147, which is marginally over one per game.

Slot had 58 matches in charge of AZ Alkmaar prior to that where he won 32 times (55 per cent win ratio). He managed them in Europe (both the Europa League and the Champions League) and finished second to Ajax in the season that was curtailed due to COVID. He beat Napoli with Alkmaar but was fired because the club was annoyed with him for flirting with a move to Feyenoord.

At AZ Alkmaar, Slot picked up more points per game than any other coach in the club's history. He took them into European competition and punched above his weight before earning the move to Feyenoord where he has been similarly as successful at squeezing the most out of his resources.

Liverpool.com says: Slot is quite clearly a very talented coach and he knows how to get the most from a group of players. The challenge will be doing that at Anfield where the pressure to succeed is much larger and there are many more things to deal with. Liverpool has a good structure around the head coach which should help, but it will still be a big step up.