Premier League title-winner is coming back to Liverpool

We’ve seen a very different Liverpool this season to the one that won the 2024/25 Premier League title.

Rather than competing to retain their crown the defending champions will be happy just to qualify for the Champions League.

There are many reasons why the situation might be so different for Arne Slot and his players this term.

Last summer £450m was spent by sporting director Richard Hughes on new signings - including British record deals for Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz.

Many of the new faces have taken their time to settle and there have been profound injury troubles for some of them too.

Giovanni Leoni, Jeremie Frimpong, Isak and Ekitike have all been struck down in their first season in Reds - leaving their adaptation process up in the air.

The Reds also lost some key performers - not least Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez. Even useful squad performers like Jarell Quansah and Caoimhin Kelleher were allowed to leave.

Heitinga linked with Liverpool comeback

Slot has been searching in vain for the magic formula to little avail.

But if a report in the Telegraph is to be believed then one key element of Liverpool’s title win could be soon re-entering the orbit.

John Heitinga was Slot’s assistant during the Dutchman’s first season in charge having previously worked under David Moyes at West Ham.

The ex-Everton defender took the opportunity to strike out on his own as Ajax head coach - but that experiment lasted only 15 matches before he was sacked.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst - a fellow Netherlands’ 2010 FIFA World Cup finalist - came to the Liverpool bench in his place.

But the ex-left-back is now being beckoned home by Feyenoord for a backroom role - meaning change is coming to Liverpool’s technical team again.

Arne Slot needs all the help he can get

“Johnny Heitinga, a popular member of Slot’s backroom staff during the title-winning campaign, is a possibility,” the report reads.

Heitinga was a trusted deputy for Slot during the title-winning season but could not turn down the lure of a top job. Following his disastrous stint at Ajax he took up a role as Thomas Frank’s assistant at Tottenham.

He lasted barely a month before crisis club Spurs rang the changes once again.

Now the 42-year-old is back on the market we could see a comeback to the Liverpool bench - re-adding a key element for Slot as he seeks to restor the club to their title-winning glory.

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