‘We are losing some players on a free transfer. It is a big challenge in the summer but the club has shown this model works. As I said many times the future looks very good, especially if we can sign players after good players leaving this summer.’

Ibrahima Konate’s contract is up this summer, although reports have suggested the centre back may agree fresh terms after a difficult season. Curtis Jones and Wataru Endo have been linked with moves away, 12 months before their own deals end.

Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport have reported that goalkeeper Alisson is a target for Juventus and Alexis Mac Allister was the subject of transfer reports earlier this year.

Mohamed Salah will be leaving Liverpool this summer – and high-profile stars could follow

Slot, who won the Premier League title in his first year before the current disappointing campaign, is not assured of his future, either.

Wayne Rooney, working as a pundit on Amazon, questioned the Liverpool manager’s claims of ‘transition’.

‘I think you’re talking about rebuilds… they were champions last season,’ Rooney said.

‘They won the league last season and they spent an awful amount of money to try and make the squad better.

‘There’s certainly been faults from, whether that’s recruitment, obviously they’ve had players out injured but you shouldn’t be talking about a rebuild when you’ve just won the Premier League.

‘They’ve lost some really good players, you can see why the fans were so upset when they lost Trent.’

Liverpool’s nightmare season continues to go from bad to worse with Hugo Ekitike the latest victim of a disappointing campaign. The Reds crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday after their 2-0 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain which marked a 4-0 aggregate defeat to the holders of the competition.

To add insult to injury, the French striker was stretchered off in the second half with a reported Achilles injury, likely putting an end to his debut season in Merseyside. Liverpool fans aren’t the only ones thinking ahead towards the summer transfer window with Arne Slot already commenting on the club’s possible business.

Mirror Football takes a look at the impact of Ekitike’s injury could have on Liverpool’s transfer plans as well as the summer challenge Slot admitted his side will have to endure as they look to move on from Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson.

Hugo Ekitike injury implication

Hugo Ekitike appeared to have picked up an Achilles injury against PSG (Image: Getty Images)

According to The Athletic, Ekitike will be out of action for several months due to the injury he suffered against the French champions. The outlet claims to have been told by sources that the France international has sustained a suspected Achilles rupture that is set to rule him out of the World Cup in June.

Not only would the 23-year-old miss out on his first opportunity to represent his country in a major tournament, given the seriousness of the injury, Ekitike would also be unavailable for the opening months of next season too.

Should that be the case, the report adds, it could have crucial implications on Liverpool’s transfer business. Taking into account that Salah is set to leave the club with Federico Chiesa likely to depart too, the Reds could go into the 26/27 season with an attack consisting of just Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha which could force them to act in the summer window.

Arne Slot admits challenge

Describing the club as one in “transition”, Arne Slot admitted after the PSG defeat that the loss of Salah and Robertson on free transfers has added to the challenge he’ll have to return the club to contending for and winning titles.

He told Prime Video: “Now we are losing Mo and Andy Robertson on a free transfer as we lost Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and this model of the club means we need to sell, usually, to buy. So it’s a big challenge. It was already last season. It’s going to be a challenge in the summer again.”

Arne Slot admitted Liverpool will be challenged in the summer transfer market(Image: Getty Images)

“This club has also shown many times that this model works and we can be very successful with his model,” Slot added. Tuesday’s defeat confirmed that the Dutchman’s second season at Anfield will end without trophies but he chose to remain upbeat about his team’s future.

He added: “I think we have signed very good and talented players. Now let’s hope they are all fit. That most of them go into their second season in the Premier League. As I’ve said many times, the future looks really good, especially if we can add a few good signings after the players leaving this summer.”