'Pundits cannot stop talking!' - Arne Slot lashes out at critics of Liverpool's lavish spending in defence of Florian Wirtz's slow start after £116m transfer

Liverpool spent a mindboggling £446m ($597m) on players this summer, £116m of which went on Wirtz. However, the Reds also made nearly £200m ($273m) from player sales - something Slot believes has not been highlighted enough by the media and pundits. The Dutchman also backed German international Wirtz - who is yet to score a goal or bag an assist so far since his summer switch from Bayer Leverkusen - to come good, saying the Merseyside outfit have had a difficult run of fixtures so far.

When asked about what adjustment Wirtz needs to make, he told reporters: "I put that down to Bournemouth, Newcastle, Arsenal, and to a team we faced this weekend but only conceded 14 goals last season. Someone told me that it's the first time Burnley lost a home game, and it tells you how hard it is to play these games and win. There's so much focus on our new signings and especially pundits who favour, not us, but some other clubs in the country that cannot stop talking about £450m, I repeat £450m, £450m but always forget the £300m that we've sold. These players we've brought in are a lot of money but are playing now with players worth the same amount of money. If we want to strengthen the squad we have to spend that money. If we were to sell Dominik Szoboszlai tomorrow, he'd be worth £100m as well."

Slot added: "It's only a compliment that people tell everyone that we've spent so much because that tells you the players we've brought in are seen as very good players."

While much has quite rightly been made of Liverpool's record-breaking spending this summer, this is in stark contrast to things ahead of the 2024-25 season. Slot was ushered in as Jurgen Klopp's replacement but they didn't make any noteworthy first-team signings. And yet, they still won the Premier League, and this season they have four wins from four. But bigger tests lie ahead this campaign.

Slot's Liverpool are gearing up for an important few days as they begin their Champions League campaign at home to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, before taking on bitter rivals Everton in the Premier League in the Merseyside derby on Saturday.