The new Benteke: FSG must ruthlessly sell Liverpool's £140k-p/w flop

The Premier League trophy will be ribboned in red this year, with Arne Slot almost certain to lift the title in the first season of his tenure at Liverpool.

After a summer of frustration in the transfer market, failing to convince Martin Zubimendi to part with Real Sociedad and make the move to England, Liverpool have charged through the 2024/25 campaign with such consistency and coherence that they perch comfortably ahead at the summit.

The players fell short last season, lost in the fogs of the final stretch and falling early in a three-horse Premier League title race. However, Slot’s tactical vision has been a breath of fresh air, one which has cleared the pathway toward gold.

Who saw it coming? Few at all. Maybe a certain German manager was thinking that he’d led a group of players as far as they could go within his decade-stretching project.

Klopp’s early clearout

Jurgen Klopp. Leader of men. Rouser of footballers. Builder of exciting projects. But also ruthless when he wanted to be, during his time as Liverpool manager.

That larger-than-life, grinning visage became synonymous with Anfield’s rise from the rubble over the past decade, but Klopp, for all his bubbly demeanour, acted mercilessly in cutting away the rot after replacing Brendan Rodgers in 2015.

Long-serving stars Joe Allen and Martin Skrtel were sold in the summer of 2016, Klopp wasting no time after his opening half-season, which saw Liverpool reach the Europa League final and lose against Sevilla.

But these players were recognised to be getting on and lacking the level of quality required. The sale of Christian Benteke carried more animosity.

Liverpool signed Benteke from Aston Villa, where he was beloved for his powerful focal presence and reliable scoring touch, for £32.5m in July 2015, one year after Luis Suarez left and took Rodgers’ hopes with him. He spent mere months on Merseyside before Klopp’s appointment.

The Belgian was hardly terrible, finishing his sole campaign in red with a modest return of ten goals and six assists across 42 matches in all competitions, but he lacked the technical ability of the likes of Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge, ahead in the pecking order and more vibrant in their football.

He fell out of favour in the months under Klopp’s wing, even remarking that the German boss ignored him, continuing to state he found it hard to understand.

Klopp ultimately knew what he wanted and acted with intent, ignoring the fact Liverpool had spent a significant sum on the striker only one year before. It’s impressive that the Reds recouped much of their outlay in August 2016, when Crystal Palace swooped in and paid £27m to bring him to Selhurst Park.

Back to the present, Slot is expected to go into the upcoming transfer window swinging, and the Dutchman appears to be taking a leaf from his predecessor’s books as he and sporting director Richard Hughes prepare to cash in on Liverpool’s new version of Benteke.

Liverpool’s new version of Benteke

Unlike Klopp, Slot is stomping toward silverware in his maiden year as Liverpool’s head coach. And it’s a Premier League gold medal at that.

It’s remarkable that he’s reached such heights after a summer (and winter) of such nominal first-team investment. Slot’s resourcefulness and Klopp’s success in rebuilding his team before departing truly are two sides of the same shiny coin.

But now is the time for change, and Liverpool need to get busy this summer if Slot’s tenure is to be remembered as a dynasty, and not a flash in the pan.

That’s why selling Darwin Nunez has to be one of the priorities this summer. The Uruguay international, 25, has fallen heavily by the wayside at Anfield, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to get back up.

While his numbers aren’t shambolic, they don’t reflect the club-record £85m transfer fee paid in a positive light, nor do they tell the full tale of a player who has routinely frustrated due to profligacy in front of goal and a lack of nous in critical moments.

Slot’s unwillingness to start him mirrors Klopp’s hesitance in unleashing Benteke, who started each of Liverpool’s opening six Premier League fixtures in 2015/16, before Rodgers departed, but only seven across 23 appearances thereafter, with Klopp at the helm.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano is among the journalists who have confirmed Liverpool are expecting to sell the £140k-per-week Nunez this summer after a deal to join Al-Nassr in January fell through.

Klopp shipped Benteke out after his first stretch as the Anfield chief and now Slot is going to repeat the trick. Sadio Mane effectively replaced the hulking striker in 2016, albeit in a different position, and then Mohamed Salah followed one year later.

Selling Benteke was essential to the purchase of Southampton’s winger, however, and freeing room and resources with Nunez’s departure falls into the same boat, with the likes of Alexander Isak and Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike linked with a move to Liverpool this summer.

Neither Benteke nor Nunez have played their part at Liverpool uselessly, but it’s clear that in both cases an upgrade could be scored, and given the competitive nature of the Premier League and Slot’s triumph this term, it’s important that FSG don’t rest on their laurels.

Slot, like Klopp, comes across really well but serves his role with a solemn undertow of ruthlessness that will serve Liverpool well as a whole but leave the likes of Nunez forced to find a new employer.

Just as with Benteke, way back when.

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