Former Liverpool star Georginio Wijnaldum says Arne Slot thoroughly impressed him on the training pitch, saying the new Reds boss is up to the standards of Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho.
Slot is making the huge step up to replace Klopp as manager at Anfield, leaving Feyenoord for his first taste of Premier League football.
The 45-year-old won the Eredivisie title in 2023 and the KNVB Cup this year, arriving in England with a growing reputation thanks to his work in his home country.
Wijnaldum, who now plays his football in Saudi Arabia with Al Ettifaq, trained with his former club Feyenoord at the start of the season just gone and liked what he saw from Slot.
The midfielder, who is in the Netherlands squad for Euro 2024, admits that Slot may not be that well known by fans in England, but they can expect good things from him after seeing his work in training.
‘In Arne Slot, I think Liverpool has really acquired a great successor. The fact that they don’t all know Slot inside out in England is not a problem at all,’ Wijnaldum told AD.
‘At the beginning of this season I trained for a few days at Feyenoord and there I saw how Slot worked. That was of a very high level, I thought it was really great.
‘I can compare it with Klopp and Mourinho and then I say that Slot is at the same level. Yes, he now comes into a completely different world, that’s just true. But that doesn’t mean he can’t do there what he did at Feyenoord?’
Former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has also talked up Slot’s skills as a coach, backing Liverpool’s choice to appoint his compatriot.
‘Yes, it’s a big job because Jurgen Klopp has done it fantastically,’ Van Gaal told Sky Sports. ‘So he is the successor and it’s always more difficult
‘But he is a good technical coach. I think at the moment he’s the best technical coach from the Netherlands. He was at that time free so I think Liverpool have made a very good choice.’
