Slot must still consider Salah, Van Dijk heirs at Liverpool with five player shortlist suggested

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has been advised that he needs to sign a goalscorer to “take the weight off Mo Salah”, with one of the club’s former midfielders exclusively telling TEAMtalk of the three priority positions – and five players they should look at – this summer.

The Reds are currently riding the crest of a title wave with celebrations still going on in the red half of Merseyside. Comfortably the best side in the Premier League this season, the challenge now is to ensure Liverpool‘s maiden title under Slot is not a flash in the pan but actually a regular occurrence.

To that end, Slot will have an enormous transfer kitty at his disposal this summer and aims to put his own stamp down on the squad he inherited from Jurgen Klopp.

And while a few players will likely leave to further supplement Slot’s spending capacity, the Dutchman does plan to spend big after our transfer insider Fraser Fletcher was told by sources to expect a ‘historic summer’ at Anfield.

To that end, a report earlier this week has also revealed the first three players likely to arrive as part of a £175m triple outlay.

But Slot is unlikely to stop there and now former midfielder Don Hutchison has been asked if Slot still needs to consider long-term heirs to both Salah and Virgil van Dijk despite the pair still recently signing extensions.

“That’s a great question. Ibrahima Konate, with him having a year left on his contract, maybe is something that I think the club needs to address,” Hutchison exclusively told TEAMtalk in conjunction with Golden Panda.

“I also think they’ll be looking at a number nine. I think Darwin Nunez is talented, but he is sometimes very frustrating. I think you saw that with the assist that he should have put on a plate for Mo Salah (against Tottenham), and he completely overhit that, which wasn’t a hard pass.

“So, I think they’ll have eyes on a number nine, whether that’s Alexander Isak or Joao Pedro or Hugo Ekitite, at Frankfurt, who is a very, very good player.”

Hutchison also likes the look of Milos Kerkez to come in at left-back and is also backing the Reds in their pursuit of his teammate Dean Huijsen.

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What is the latest on Kerkez and Huijsen to Liverpool?

Hutchison continued: “I think Milos Kerkez at left-back is an option, Dean Huijsen at Bournemouth is an option for a centre-back, so I think they’ll be in the market.”

However, the former Reds star, who played for Liverpool for three years between 1991 and 1994, thinks the priority has to be on signing a centre-forward capable of scoring lots of goals and taking some of the burden off Salah.

“I think they’ll do a mini-rebuild, but with Van Dijk, Konate, Quansah, Joe Gomez on the way back, it feels as though they’ve got enough cover, but I think their priority has to be trying and take the weight off Mo Salah a little bit more with adding more goals.”

Liverpool’s interest in Kerkez was exclusively first revealed by TEAMtalk’s transfer insider Fletcher way back in September, with their interest in signing him progressing as the season has unfolded.

However, the Reds – while still favourites to sign the Hungarian – they are not alone in holding an interest and Fletcher also exclusively revealed on Wednesday that Man City are also in the midst of talking to his agents about the possibility of bringing the player to the Etihad Stadium.

As for Huijsen, sources have revealed Liverpool are also confident of a deal, with Richard Hughes having a good relationship with his agent and with our overseas correspondent Rudy Galetti revealing the Cherries have now identified another former Juventus defender as his potential replacement.

Liverpool transfer latest: Romano reveals Rogers admiration; Alisson U-turn

Meanwhile, Liverpool admiration in Morgan Rogers has been CONFIRMED by Fabrizio Romano – though the transfer journalist has moved to play down the Reds’ chances of a stunning summer raid on Aston Villa after the England star’s eye-watering asking price emerged.

The Reds are also targeting what has been described as a “quick and easy fix” to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold this summer with a free-transfer raid for an excellent Premier League star expected.

Elsewhere, David Ornstein fears the Reds will become a ‘scary’ prospect if they manage to secure a deal for their No.1 transfer target this summer.

And finally, Alisson Becker is understood to be ready to commit his future to Anfield and sign a new deal in a surprise development – but the news will not be greeted by everyone at the club with new signing Giorgi Mamardashvili now left at a crossroads and with his likely next loan deal coming to light.

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