Arne Slot's first comments on Liverpool transfer strategy could be good news for Reds fans

New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has already shared multiple conversations with sporting director Richard Hughes ahead of the summer transfer window, and together they're laying the groundwork for continued success.

Slot spoke for the first time as Liverpool coach on Wednesday and opened up about his meetings with Hughes, also commenting on the decision to hire top goalkeeping coach Fabian Otte. Slot admitted that Liverpool is looking to hire the top coaches in each position, and conversations have already taken place over imminent arrivals this summer.

When asked if recruitment has been discussed with Hughes, Slot said: "Yeah, and it's also been part of spending my time in the last few weeks. If you bring in Fabian (Otte), who I didn't know before, you have conversations, and meetings with him – together with Richard – to bring the best possible person we could find, and I think in the situation of Fabian we managed to do that.

"He's regarded as one of the most interesting goalkeeper coaches there is at the moment and in the meetings we had I felt this as well. [There are] still one or two positions to fill in and we are talking about this and having meetings about this as well."

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Otte last coached for the USMNT earlier this year, after leaving Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach. Liverpool's current goalkeeping coach Claudio Taffarel is expected to stay at the club, as Slot is striking a balance between implementing changes and keeping the core intact.

Slot was very complimentary of former Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp, who decided to leave at the end of last season after nine years in charge. Klopp won every trophy in charge of Liverpool which included a first league title for 30 years, and Slot is grateful that the club has been handed over in good hands.

"Jurgen left the club in a really good place, left the team in a really good place. I think we have a lot of quality and the way they played last season was already impressive, so we are going to build from there," Slot added.

"Of course, you want to take some people with you as well because they know who you are, they know your playing style and they can translate this to the other people in the staff as well. But if you go to a club like Liverpool, you can assume – and I already noticed that – that there are a lot of good people working here as well.

"So, we are going to use hopefully the best of both worlds to implement a few things from us and to use the knowledge that is inside this club already because of the nine years Jurgen and his staff worked here." Liverpool managed to win the League Cup in Klopp's final season but fell off in the other competitions after the news of his departure was announced.

The downfall began after Manchester United pulled off a heroic 4-3 win after extra time to knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup, and Italian club Atlanta delivered an upset as they knocked the Reds out of Europe before going on to win the Europa League. Liverpool faltered in the Premier League race too, as Manchester City edged Arsenal to win a fourth-straight title.

Slot respects everything that Klopp has done and believes last season was strong for Liverpool, but one he can build on with the current squad and some new additions. "(A) real good team, real good players, managed to be on top for a very long time, but I think in the end we would all love to see Liverpool a bit higher than third place and this is the challenge we are facing now – to build on from what we have," Slot said.

"I have all the confidence in this because of the players, that we can add a few things where we hopefully can get a bit more points than 82, which is necessary with the likes of Arsenal and City, to end up hopefully a bit higher than we did this season."