The Liverpool head coach has repeatedly compared his side to Paris Saint-Germain since last season’s Champions League exit, and one aspect of Luis Enrique’s team particularly impressed him
Arne Slot has revealed that adding pace to his line-up was a significant motivating factor behind last summer’s transfer activity.
Liverpool recruited heavily before the 2025/26 season, with eight first-team arrivals totalling a cost of over £450 million (just north of $600M). That lavish outlay was partly to replace several outgoing stars, but also to address certain deficiencies in the team.
A lack of speed was certainly among them, a feature that was often prevalent in Liverpool’s performances last season, despite being the runaway Premier League champions. Slot also believes it held the side back in Europe, particularly up against the might of Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG eliminated Liverpool in the last-16 of the Champions League just under a year ago, with arguably the continent’s two best unfortunately paired together in the first knockout round.
The French champions do not lack for pace, with the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Achraf Hakimi, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in their ranks.
Speaking ahead of the midweek trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers, Slot said that Champions League disappointment partly motivated Liverpool’s recruitment plans.
“Jeremie has shown every time he comes in that when you face low blocks, how important pace is,” Slot said, when asked about the returning Jeremie Frimpong, Liverpool’s quickest player, who has recently recovered from a groin injury.
“I can tell you, the moment you don’t face low blocks and the moment you face teams who [line up] further away from goal, then pace becomes probably even more important.
“Pace in modern football, apart from being really strong at set-pieces, is crucial. Not that I needed it because I knew it, but Paris Saint-Germain were a great example (last season] of pace when it comes to the forwards – to win the Champions League from open play and be creative.”
Slot added, “We thought, I thought, that was something we could add to this team and what we’ve tried to do.
“But unfortunately, we’ve only been able to use one player [we signed] who has a lot of pace in our front three and that is Hugo [Ekitike].
“Alex [Isak] has been mainly injured, and Jeremie hasn’t played a lot of minutes in the Premier League. That’s why I always keep on saying that you see progress with us but what if all these players are fit?
“This club is in a very good place because we signed so many good players in the summer.”
As referenced by Slot, Liverpool has yet to see the best of Frimpong and Isak due to injury. The pair have only managed a combined 12 league starts.