Arne Slot has denied Darwin Núñez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff.
The Liverpool head coach said on Sunday that Núñez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticised for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons.
Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He didn’t feel himself the day before the match, and he went inside and he wasn’t able to be part of the team the day after.” Didn’t feel himself? “That can mean multiple things, yes,” Slot replied. “He didn’t feel himself.”
Slot confirmed the £85m club record signing would be in the squad for Sunday’s trip to Leicester. Liverpool will win the Premier League title with victory against Ruud van Nistelrooy’s struggling side if Arsenal lose at Ipswich.
Slot was directly asked whether Núñez had a heated exchange with a member of the backroom team during Saturday’s training session. “No, he didn’t,” said Slot. “He did leave the pitch because he didn’t feel himself.” As in, he was ill? “As in he didn’t have words with a staff member.”
Liverpool’s big summer has already begun, according to Slot, with the securing of the services of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah for the next two years. Van Dijk claimed “a big summer” awaited Liverpool before he followed Salah in signing a new two-year contract. Slot believes retaining two world-class talents, in deals that could cost Liverpool about £90m, is a fundamental part of that strategy. He again refused to be drawn on the future of Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is the only one of Liverpool’s potential free agents not to recommit and has an offer from Real Madrid.
“At Liverpool there is always a big summer and it is already a big summer now,” Slot said. “By already holding on to two it is already a big summer. Let’s see what the rest of the summer will bring but it would be strange for me to say now I am not happy with the team. Maybe if we can keep that team it will already be a big summer.”
Liverpool are expected to target a centre-forward and a young left-back but, like last summer, Slot does not believe many improvements are needed for a squad on the verge of winning the Premier League by some distance.
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Slot, who expects Alexander-Arnold to return from an ankle injury against Leicester, said: “We didn’t change anything last summer and I don’t think we went downwards. There are lots of studies being done that the longer a team plays together the more success it has. I think the core of the team you want to keep as long as you can together, as long as they are performing in the best possible way, but it is also in general good to have some new energy in and around the place with one or two players. That I agree on. But it isn’t really a necessity when you look at the quality we have and the quality of the season we have had.”
