Liverpool warming to the idea of SACKING Arne Slot as dire financial reality hits FSG

Liverpool will place a ‘serious question mark’ over the future of Arne Slot at Anfield if one thing happens in the coming months, and the worrying financial reality of the Reds’ shambolic season is dawning on owners FSG.

Liverpool are presiding over a pitiful title defence and over their last 20 league matches, have returned a record of six wins, six draws and eight defeats. That equates to a winning percentage of 30 and across an entire campaign, that is what teams who narrowly avoid relegation generally produce.

The five-match winning streak at the beginning of the campaign has spared Liverpool’s blushes with regards to being mentioned alongside a relegation scrap.

However, the dismal form that followed has thrown up the very real prospect of Liverpool not qualifying for the Champions League.

Fifth spot is on course to be good enough for a place, just as it was last season. However, Liverpool sit sixth in the table, with both Manchester United and Chelsea in fourth and fifth respectively surging after making mid-season managerial changes.

Despite Slot overseeing a ghoulish campaign, the common consensus among all trusted reporters was the Dutchman retains the full backing of Liverpool’s hierarchy.

FSG believe Slot will turn the ship around and qualify for the UCL. But with each passing week, the chances of achieving that aim are dwindling.

And according to the latest rom Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, it’s beginning to dawn on Liverpool that missing out on UCL football is no longer a fear, but the reality.

O’Rourke explained that failure to qualify for the Champions League and secure the gigantic guaranteed funding that provides will result in Liverpool placing a ‘serious question mark’ over whether Slot should continue at Anfield.

In other words, it may now be a simple case of failure to qualify for the UCL will prompt the axe to fall in the summer.

The report stressed Slot is not in danger of being sacked during the season. He will be given the remaining 13 matches to attempt to guide Liverpool into the top five.

But failure to do so could bring major change in the dugout in the summer, and as is generally the case in football, the reasons will be financial.

O’Rourke noted the absence of the guaranteed money UCL football brings would ‘provide a huge financial blow’ to a club that forked out nearly half a billion pounds on new players last summer.

Another consequence of Liverpool’s colossal spend on big-name stars is their wage bill is now the highest in the Premier League, according to Deloitte.

And with Liverpool already pencilling in £60m for Jeremy Jacquet and requiring a second centre-back if Ibrahima Konate leaves on a free, plus a new left winger, it’s imperative for the club and for Slot’s own employment that a top-five place is secured against all odds.

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Slot losing Carragher’s support

One of Slot’s biggest backers in public this season has been Reds icon, Jamie Carragher.

The ex-defender’s support for Slot reached fever pitch during the fallout between the Dutchman and Mohamed Salah in late-2025. In an attempt to throw his full backing behind Slot, Carragher launched a poisonous character assassination on Salah, labelling him a “disgrace”, among other things.

Yet Carragher now appears to be realising there are far bigger problems at Liverpool than just the declining form of an all-time great.

Speaking to Sky Sports in late-January, Carragher claimed Slot would not have a leg to stand on with regards to remaining Liverpool’s manager if they missed out on Champions League football.

And after the defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, Carragher now believes Liverpool will fail to qualify for Europe’s top competition.

Asked if he thinks Liverpool will make the UCL spots, Carragher said: “No. Right now I don’t. They would have to have a huge upturn in form. And the ones above them are in great form.”

On how damaging the City defeat truly is, Carragher added: “It’s a bad one. When you look at the league for Liverpool, it looks like a long way to get into the top five Champions League positions.

“There’s a gap now. You can make that up but Liverpool will have to do well in the two cup competitions to save the season.”

Latest Liverpool news – Fans weigh in on Slot / Konate developments

In other news, Liverpool supporters appear divided on fresh claims that the club should sack Slot and appoint Xabi Alonso as his replacement, with some fans picking out three other preferred options, and amid a damning stat which suggests the Dutchman could be on borrowed time.

Elsewhere, Konate’s stance on signing a new contract at Anfield has angered Liverpool who’ve just launched a countermeasure.

READ MORE: The 11 players who left Liverpool last summer and how they’re faring with next step