Liverpool news: Arne Slot on Erling Haaland, Man City and spending

Arne Slot is thrilled Liverpool are “still able to compete” as Premier League rivals Manchester City flex their financial muscles over star striker Erling Haaland.

With the Norwegian striker signing a new nine-and-a-half year contract, it shows a huge contrast as to what is happening on Merseyside with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil Van Dijk and Mo Salah all on course to be free agents in the summer.

The weekly wage cost of Liverpool’s three stars is £750,000, whereas it is reported Haaland’s new deal will be two thirds of that alone. And, with City reportedly expected to splurge over £150m in this transfer window and Liverpool unlikely to make a significant deal, it begs the question of whether their own position in English football’s pecking order is at risk.

This was asked to Slot in Friday’s news conference before the Reds’ weekend game at Brentford, and he replied: “Not particularly about the investment but we know how good we have to be every single day to compete in this league.

“It is not only the club you are referring to, Chelsea also spend £1.2bn, (Manchester) United spend an incredible amount.

“Every team spends a lot of money over here, that’s why it’s such an interesting league to be part of.

“Some seasons this club spends a bit more, other seasons other clubs spend a bit more. That’s what makes this league so intense and so difficult to win.

“But that’s also the reason why we want to be here. You want to compete against the best, with the best, and we are very happy with the team we have at the moment and we are still able to compete with all the teams that are spending incredible amounts of money.”