Arne Slot confirms Liverpool's NEXT signing

Liverpool have been quiet in the first two transfer windows under Richard Hughes' reign, but things are about to get busy and Arne Slot's may have already confirmed the club's first signing.

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Hughes has been under a lot of pressure since taking over as the sporting director at Liverpool.

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The fans have a voracious appetite for new signings and there's intense demand for him to tie down the trio of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold to new deals.

So far, none of those thirsts have been quenched yet at Anfield. Hughes is yet to agree contract extensions and he is yet to really land a marquee signing.

But behind the scenes, the club are definitely working on making moves.

Slot confirms Liverpool's next signing

One area where Liverpool are expected to strengthen is in the attack. Anfield Watch exclusively revealed that the club rejected a £70m offer for Darwin Nunez from Saudi club Al Hilal.

The Reds wanted to keep him for the remainder of the season. However, it is expected Liverpool will be looking to sell him in the summer and Saudi clubs will be back knocking on the door for him.

With Nunez gone, the question will be, who will replace him?

There are several options in the running, but Slot may have just confirmed the type of attacker Liverpool will be looking for and therefore confirming exactly who the club's recruitment team will be targeting.

Speaking in his press conference ahead of the Reds' clash against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup, Slot was asked about the type of attacker he likes to have in his team, and whether he wants more of a 'facilitator' rather than a goalscorer.

“I will be happy if that player becomes both,” Slot said.

“‘Facilitator’, nice word, I didn’t know that one yet, and scoring goals himself – that is, again, what we want to achieve in the end.

“But I also saw the penalty (at Bournemouth) from Cody [Gakpo] where Lucho [Luis Diaz] played a part without even touching the ball.

“He dragged the centre-back out which led to Cody being in a one-vs-one and he made a deep run and got tripped.

“In the end you want attackers and midfielders to score, we’ve spoken about our attacking midfielder as well.

“We need to get goals from many positions, including them and including centre-backs that can score from set-pieces also.

“So, that’s what I just said, we are trying to work on the training ground and with the feedback we give them after the game to make team better and better and better and in the end, the No. 9 should be a facilitator, like a winger, but a winger and a No. 9 should also score goals.”

Slot's words are interesting here. It sounds like the type of profile he wants as a no.9 is someone who can both create and score goals.

Someone who can also drift into the wider channels to draw space for the Reds' other attackers, like Diaz did in the example Slot spoke about against Bournemouth.

And the perfect candidate for that might just be Hugo Ekitike, who has been on Liverpool's radar for a long time.

Ekitike is a phenomenal goal-scorer having found the back of the net 16 times in all competitions for Eintracht Frankfurt this season. But he's also more than just a goal-scorer.

He will drift out wide into the channels that you expect wingers to occupy. He will link up well with his teammates and take on the role of the 'facilitator.'

The numbers reflect this. FBref, ranks Ekitike in the 93rd percentile for key passes (1.74 per 90), shot creating actions (3.75 per 90) and for expected assisted goals (0.23 per 90) among forwards.

Having both skills in his locker means Ekitike would be the perfect fit for Liverpool. He is exactly the type of striker Slot described in his explanation above.

If indeed Liverpool have set their sights on Ekitike, it would also make sense as to why the club did not sell Nunez in the January window.

Frankfurt had already made a big sale to Manchester City in this window, allowing Omar Marmoush to leave. There's no way they would have also allowed Ekitike to follow suit.

But in the summer, that might be an entirely different story. Frankfurt have always been open to selling their star players and with ample time to find the right replacements, they will be open to doing business with Liverpool over Ekitike.

There are few players who fit the profile of a Slot team as well as Ekitike. On top of his creative and goal-scoring numbers, he also presses well, ranks highly for key defensive metrics like interceptions (96th percentile), tackles won (87th percentile) and ball recoveries (80th percentile).

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He'd be an absolute dream signing, and based on Slot's words it is entirely plausible Ekitike will be the club's first mega arrival of the summer transfer window.

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