‘He is like Pep Guardiola’ – Ex-Man City player shares his experiences of working with Arne Slot

Arne Slot has been compared to a high-profile Premier League manager by one man who’s previously worked with the new Liverpool head coach.

Michel Vonk spent three years as a Manchester City player in the 1990s and was a youth coach at AZ Alkmaar at the time that the 45-year-old was in charge of the club, and he’s likened Jurgen Klopp’s successor to the man who reigns supreme at his alma mater.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the ex-Maine Road defender said of Slot: “He spent hours watching videos of the big teams, Barcelona and, of course, Manchester City. Arne is a tremendous football coach who likes to play football in an attacking way.

“He is like Pep Guardiola. He believes in these principles and he lives by them with the team.”

Liverpool fans might bristle at the Guardiola comparison given our rivalry with City over the past decade, but we certainly won’t be complaining if Slot manages to replicate the Spaniard by winning six Premier League titles in eight seasons!

From listening to Vonk, it’s clear that the Reds’ new head coach is someone who works relentlessly in the pursuit of success, while also championing a style of play which is bound to go down well with the Merseyside faithful.

It seems, too, that the 45-year-old has firm tactical principles in which he has complete faith, a single-mindedness which is to be welcomed so long as it doesn’t seep into a stubbornness and rigidity which could hinder the team from getting results in certain games.

Nonetheless, the testimony from a man who’s worked with Slot at AZ is a very positive one, and let’s hope that the Liverpool board’s faith proves to be justified.