Arne Slot had made it pretty clear a fair few times and Jürgen Klopp then did his own announcement during his leaving speech at Anfield on Sunday, but Liverpool has now officially unveiled soccer's worst-kept secret. Feyenoord's Dutch coach is the new Reds boss.

After a detailed and lengthy process, Slot was decided as the best possible option for Liverpool for a number of reasons. His playing style is very similar to what Liverpool was looking for and will not lead to wholesale changes being required in the squad this summer, while the 45-year-old has a proven track record of improving and getting the most out of players.

Slot seems to be the right kind of character to continue the positive relationship between Liverpool staff and Liverpool fans, and he is also willing to give young players a chance in the senior team. After a long process was conducted by the Reds behind the scenes, Slot was determined to be the best fit for the role.

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According to The Athletic, Liverpool's new sporting director, Richard Hughes, had extensively studied Slot's Feyenoord team while he was in charge at Bournemouth too. As well as Liverpool's data team, including Will Spearman, believing that Slot was a good fit in the numbers, Hughes was already an existing advocate of the Dutch coach.

Bournemouth signed Marcos Senesi from the Rotterdam club in 2022 when Hughes was technical director on the south coast. It also supposedly kept a close eye on Marcus Pedersen, who is now on loan at Sassuolo, left-back Quilindschy Hartman, who replaced Tyrell Malacia when he signed for Manchester United, and Luis Sinisterra, who did eventually move to Bournemouth, initially on loan before that was made permanent, after a year at Leeds United in between.

The Cherries recruitment staff, the report said, would joke about how often they were looking at Feyenoord players. "It’s not about the players — it’s about the coach and his system," was supposedly Hughes' mantra.

Liverpool.com says: Slot was not the obvious name most Liverpool fans would have thought about when it was announced that Klopp was to depart, but the more you learn about him, the more it makes sense that the Reds would be a good fit. This is just the latest piece of evidence that points to him being able to seamlessly fit into the new-look Liverpool set-up.

Taking over from Klopp will be very difficult, of course, but Slot has the skills — and, crucially, the strong backroom team around him — to make it work. It might not happen immediately, but there is a good chance that Slot will be able to do well with Liverpool, building on the foundations that Klopp leaves behind.