Liverpool need to sell before buying this summer, says Arne Slot as pressure mounts after Champions League exit

Arne Slot says Liverpool will need to raise funds through sales before they can make any new signings this summer.

Liverpool spent a record £446.5m last summer but a difficult season has shown the need to continue the rebuild, with Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson set to leave on free transfers and Hugo Ekitike feared to have suffered a serious injury.

The club funded last summer's spending by selling a string of players including Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, Jarell Quansah, Caoimhin Kelleher, Ben Gannon Doak and Tyler Morton.

And with many of last summer's recruits, including Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, having struggled for form and fitness, Slot says more players will need to be sold to fund any new additions.

"We are losing Mo and Andy Robertson on a free transfer, as we lost Trent on a free transfer, and this model of the club means that we have to sell, usually, to buy," he told Amazon Prime after the Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain.

"It's a big challenge. It was already last season and it's going to be a challenge in the summer again. But this club has also shown many times that this model works and we can be very successful.

"We have signed very good and talented players. Let's hope they are all fit, and most of them go into their second season in the Premier League.

"As I said many times, the future looks very good, especially if we can add a few good signings after good players leave this summer."

Ibrahima Konate is one of the players whose future at the club appears uncertain, with the defender having so far failed to agree a contract extension, leaving Liverpool under pressure to sell this summer before his contract expires next year.

Will Slot still be in place?

Slot's comments come amid uncertainty surrounding his own future.

The Dutchman, who guided Liverpool to the Premier League title last season, has a year remaining on his contract but Jamie Carragher has said failure to clinch a Champions League finish could spell the end of his reign.

Liverpool currently occupy one of the Champions League qualifying spots in fifth, four points clear of Chelsea, but face Everton in Sunday's Merseyside derby, live on Sky Sports, having only won one of their last four Premier League games

"If you don't qualify for the Champions League, having won the league the season before and spent as much as Liverpool, I don't think you've got a leg to stand on," Carragher said on Monday Night Football in February.

"The real worry I have for Liverpool in terms of qualifying for the Champions League is the three big things that stand out in the Premier League now are set-pieces, counter-attacking football and coming up against low blocks.

"Liverpool can't cope with any of them. What we're seeing is a team in the Premier League that's not suited to the Premier League."

The same issues have resurfaced since Carragher's comments, with Liverpool losing to Wolves and Brighton either side of a draw with Spurs before Saturday's win over Fulham.

"Once you start fearing Champions League qualification for next season, that's when I think we've got a completely different proposition when we're talking about the manager's job," added Carragher. "That, for me, is completely different.

"If we're talking about not winning the league or challenging for the league, that is a collective responsibility, and Liverpool don't win the league every year.

"Not making the Champions League from [being] champions, spending £450m and having the highest wage bill in the Premier League, which is normally the biggest determining factor over where you finish in the league, I think you've got serious questions to ask."

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(c) Sky Sports 2026: Liverpool need to sell before buying this summer, says Arne Slot as pressure mounts after Champions League exit