ARNE SLOT spent just £10million last summer on Juventus playmaker Federico Chiesa.
But the Liverpool boss — fresh from winning the Premier League title in his debut season — is on a £200m-plus transfer blitz to make sure the Reds blast out of the blocks from day one of pre-season.
German sensation Florian Wirtz, 22, is the marquee signing for a British-record £116.5m and joins his old Bayer Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong — who cost £29.5m — at Anfield.
Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez is next to make the move to Merseyside after a £40m deal was agreed yesterday, while Valencia’s £30m keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili joins on July 1.
Slot is also keen on Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi, while Newcastle pair Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon remain targets in a flurry of summer transfer activity that could see the Kop boss spend another £200m.
While rivals Manchester City and Chelsea exert themselves in the sweltering heat of the Club World Cup — which runs until July 13 in the USA — Liverpool are primed to turn up the pressure in the title race when they kick-off the season against Bournemouth on August 15.
Playmaker Wirtz is the headline act in Slot’s revolution — one the Dutchman has been plotting over the last 12 months.
Slot, 46, paid tribute to predecessor Jurgen Klopp when he lifted a record-equalling 20th league title in front of an adoring Kop back in May.
But the former Feyenoord boss clearly felt he inherited a squad that needed a complete makeover in tactics and personnel.
Slot saved his money and waited while winning the hearts and minds of a doubting red half of Merseyside — as well as players, who were unsure of what would come next.
At the same time he was identifying who he wanted — and who he didn’t.
Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Jarrel Quansah — almost certain to leave for Leverkusen — Joe Gomez, Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez could all be out this summer.
Of course, Slot had been here before.
After his first season in charge of Feyenoord, in 2021-22, he instigated massive changes.
He moved on 16 players, including £12.9m Tyrell Malacia to Manchester United and Luis Sinisterra, who was sold to Leeds for £25m, while 11 were either let go or sent out on loan.
Meanwhile, for around £35m — far less than the mammoth budget he is now armed with — 15 were brought in.
Slot lifted the Eredivisie title in 2023 and the Dutch Cup last year before making his way to Anfield.
And changes were made as he got his feet under the table, although none of them suggested how seismic they would become.
Klopp’s “heavy metal football” morphed into far more controlled and muted melodies, the beat about possession, not frantic assault.
Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister went to double-bass, the pair redeployed from attacking roles to holding midfielders.
Trent Alexander-Arnold no longer busked away from his right-back spot so often, Nunez was made a third string, Dominik Szoboszlai moved into a more free–flowing, attacking role, much of it to enable Mo Salah to play all that jazz and become the Football Writers’ Association and Prem Player of the Year.
Slot got the band playing to a more sophisticated rhythm and turned them into a No 1 hit.
The campaign morphed into what seemed a perfect symphony but as Liverpool’s summer splurge shows, with Wirtz coming in as the conductor of a new orchestra, it was really only the opening overture.
Now comes what Slot will hope will be the creation of his very own work of art, led by 5ft 10in Wirtz, who many believe is becoming one of the great maestros of the game.
He arrives as a generational talent who not only creates but scores — 44 goal contributions across the last two Bundesliga campaigns, including 21 goals and a league-high of 23 assists.
Wirtz’s figures are the second most of any player aged under 23 in Europe’s top-five leagues, just behind Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.
Last season, for the second in a row, he was one of just six players to reach double figures for goals and assists in Europe’s big-five leagues.
Wirtz is his own one–man band.
He is almost faultless with both feet and waltzes past defenders because he is so difficult to predict.
Over the last two years he attempted a Bundesliga-high of 313 take-ons.
And just Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal (231), West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus (216) and Manchester City’s Jeremy Doku (203) completed more than his 161 dribbles in that same time frame in Europe’s top five leagues.
Wirtz created 124 chances from open play in that period, a figure bettered only by Salah (150), Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard (139), Manchester United’s captain Bruno Fernandes (137) and Chelsea’s Palmer (134).
These mighty statistics suggest the playmaker ranked first in the Bundesliga for through balls (49) and completed lay-off passes (123) last season will be a sensation under Slot as he continues his makeover.
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