Liverpool chairman Tom Werner on Arne Slot, historic transfer spend and FSG's future Anfield plans

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner on Arne Slot, historic transfer spend and FSG's future Anfield plans

EXCLUSIVE: The ECHO chats to Liverpool chairman Tom Werner about Arne Slot, a historic summer transfer window and what might come next for FSG

Tom Werner, Chairman of Liverpool, Michael Gordon, President of Fenway Sports Group and John Henry, Principle Owner of Liverpool and his wife Linda Pizzuti Henry (Image: (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images) )

On the back of a hugely successful season, it's fitting that Tom Werner begins by hoisting aloft one of the giant pieces of silverware that decorate his home office in the United States.

But rather than continuing to bask in the glory of a Premier League title-winning term for Arne Slot and his players at Anfield, that the Liverpool chairman is in possession of a Champions League replica is in some way symbolic of perhaps what might still be to come.

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"It is an exciting time right now but we wake up every day and I keep using the word 'relentless,'" Werner tells the ECHO in an exclusive chat. "We want to win more trophies, we don't want to just appreciate what we have done. We are hungry to be more successful and what is exciting is that the league is tremendously competitive and we think it will be a challenging season."

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The origin story of the club's 20th league triumph can be traced back over 18 months to when Jurgen Klopp informed Werner and the rest of Fenway Sports Group of his intention to walk away after nearly a decade in charge at one of the most demanding clubs on the planet.

Klopp told FSG in November of 2023 of his plans and while it's understood that counter-offers were made, said to have been in jest, to stay on, it speaks to the relationships that exist at that level of the operation that the then Reds boss was able to publicly deliver his exit message on his terms over two months later, through official club channels in late January.

"At the LFC Foundation Gala Ball [last month], Jurgen was talking about how relentless the job is and he didn't really do much in Liverpool except wake up in the morning and drive to the training ground or Anfield, spend all day working and come home late at night," Werner says.

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"The job, I saw the toll it was taking on him and I consider him to be a close friend, so when people think about being the manager, I think they think the focus is on winning matches every weekend but the fact is it's so complex, the job.

"You have to be the leader of the academy, the assistants, the staff, the physios, the doctors and of course the supporters. The greater community of football is there with the media as well, so I do understand.

"Of course, I wish he would have continued but I was also respectful, as a friend, for all the contributions he made. I appreciated that he wanted to transition in a very orderly way and he wanted to communicate that to us first and then the team and then the supporters. So, you know, after feeling appropriately disappointed, we said: 'OK, we're going to build a new chapter.'"

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That "new chapter" started by looking at the football operations department through a wider lens. Having become lionised on Merseyside for the success and force of personality he brought, the timing of Klopp's decision afforded FSG the chance to restructure entirely at the AXA Training Centre. Keen not to see a similar situation of burnout for Klopp's would-be successor, it was decided the manager's in-tray would no longer be as bulging.

Former sporting director Michael Edwards was coaxed back into the Fenway fold as the organisation's 'CEO of football' which was a bespoke position created specifically for an executive whose work for much of the previous decade had seen him establish a reputation as one of the sharpest minds in the industry.

From there, the vaunted Edwards headhunted Bournemouth's Richard Hughes to become the sporting director before the exhaustive research began to find the right character to succeed Klopp.

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Werner says: "We looked at it as an opportunity and what was so special about Arne was, I have often said he is very authentic and he is not trying to be the next Jurgen Klopp, the next Pep Guardiola, he is his own man and he is going to approach the club in his own sincere and thoughtful way.

"So we looked at this as an opportunity to reshape the football operations, bring back Michael Edwards, empower Michael and Richard to do the jobs that we knew they were capable of doing and then turn the page.

"I am not smart enough to say there is only one way tRo achieve success but I had confidence and we had confidence that this was an opportunity and that Michael would be successful. John (Henry), Mike (Gordon) and I, we read all the reports about the various people who might be interviewed for the job, but I can tell you the research that went into finding Arne was really impressive and he was Michael and Richard's first choice.

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"They did a lot of impressive background research on him, what he had done previously and they had good interviews with him and he was the first choice. I didn't know who he was but we were confident their thoughtfulness would achieve success. Now I think not a lot of people felt he would come in and win the Premier League this year but we did feel we would be in the top four."

The prospect of succeeding the wildly popular Klopp will have been a daunting one for many a coach, particularly given his profile as one of the leading lights of modern management, but Slot's self-assurance ensured no supporter was harking back to the previous regime with anything other than fondness as the Reds went about storming their way to the title.

Arriving with the job title of 'head coach' to represent the changing of the dynamics within the AXA Training Centre itself, Slot spoke alongside Hughes at an arranged press conference last summer to mark their arrival.

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Slot chatted about his desire to see first hand how good the Reds' squad was before making any significant decisions on recruitment as Hughes also revealed of the "opportunistic" strategy for the window at the time.

"To be fair and complimentary to Jurgen, he left the club in very good shape and Arne didn't feel as though he needed to bring in three or four new players," Werner says. "He felt he had the talent on the pitch to be successful and his contribution - which I think we have all seen - was to see if he could improve perhaps the training methods or the strategy. He brought his own mark of personality and identification of problems to the situation.

"Everyone has commented on the lack of injuries we had this year and now maybe that was a matter of some luck as well as focus but it was an area to focus on in terms of the amount of days the players were unavailable for but we really had a very healthy squad for most of the year.

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"Jurgen was enormously charismatic and is almost unique in how charismatic he is. In contrast, Arne is a bit more quiet and yet confident. And that is quite an impressive combination. He certainly has enormous self-confidence but he is also very trusting in the people around.

"He had enormous confidence that Richard Hughes and Michael would do what they do best as well as the players. I wouldn't say the appointment was left-field but it is easy to say in retrospect it was the right decision to employ Arne but we felt at the time it was the right decision.

"If you ask the players how it worked with Arne - and they could have been a lot more prove-it-to-me to him - but they trusted him. He had individual sessions with them and improved a lot of them as players."

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Inevitably, the conversation turns to what is already the most expensive summer transfer outlay in the club's history. Having added £29m Jeremie Frimpong to the ranks at the beginning of the month, the Reds then struck a club-record agreement for his Bayer Leverkusen team-mate Florian Wirtz, in a deal worth a potentially £116m and it is the arrival of Germany international that has truly set pulses racing on Merseyside.

Wirtz has been joined by £40m Milos Kerkez from Bournemouth, while £29m goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili completes a transfer agreed with Valencia last summer before pre-season training begins in early July.

It's a marked contrast to last year when Federico Chiesa, at £12m, was the only addition from Juventus, after the season itself had started. The optics are of a title-winning club determined to stay in the position they find themselves and of an ownership group who have loosened the pursestrings for a historic period of player trading.

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"There's a lot of noise every transfer window, right?" Werner says. "There was a lot of noise last year that we didn't go out and sign somebody for £100m but Arne felt the right thing to do was work with the squad he has. He also feels it is the right thing to do now to bring in some fresh faces and if Wirtz is half the talent that the media and the analysts say then it will be the right decision! It is exciting and I hope in a year we can say it was the right decision, I hope so."

Leverkusen had initially demanded €150 (£127m) for Wirtz but Liverpool never had any intention of going that high for the attacking midfielder and after around three weeks of detailed and exhaustive negotiations, a fee of £116m was agreed. But at such an exorbitant outlay at an initial £100m, with a further £16m in success-based add-ons for the 22-year-old Wirtz, is there a concern at ownership level that such a sum for one single player is a risky investment?

"We (FSG) do not meddle in those kinds of decisions," Werner says. "We have full confidence that Richard and Arne are being extremely careful and that if they bless something or recommend something then we are going to support. There was a point in the process that we thought we had stretched to a generous proposal and if we thought Leverkusen wanted 20% more then we may not have been able to get there.

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"We don't take anything for granted but [Wirtz] has been the greatest player in the Bundesliga last season but playing in the Premier League, it will be a different challenge and a new opportunity for him.

"Those signings (Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker) were certainly critical to our success but, you know, I am too experienced, you have to make your own decisions and trust the people that make them but they don't always work out right and we have a lot of competitors as well."

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Werner adds: "I think you have to be relentless. I think that, from my experience and being involved in a sport for a long time - I first got involved when I acquired the San Diego Padres in 1990, 35 years ago - from my vantage point, it is so difficult to repeat not just football but all sports.

"One of the things which is a danger point is if you bring back the same squad because I think it is just important to alter the chemistry to bring in new faces. So I think Arne's strategy is the right one and hopefully we can say in a year's time he did it the right way. But I do think it was important to bring in new faces."

One player who has waved goodbye is vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold, who ended a 20-year association with his boyhood club at the start of June, joining Real Madrid in a £10m deal 30 days before his contract expired when he would have signed as a free agent.

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The departure was something of an acrimonious one between player and fanbase, with the England international subjected to loud boos during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal last month at Anfield, having made clear his decision to leave the club earlier that week.

For FSG, though, Alexander-Arnold's time is only reflected upon with gratitude, with Werner saying: "We do respect the fact that Trent has moved on. I told someone recently this story about seeing Trent on the last weekend of the season, with Billy [Hogan, CEO] and I just wanted him to know from me personally we are and were as a club thankful for all his contributions.

"He showed me a picture when he was seven years old, when he was a young kid at the Academy, and I have a lot of fondness for all that he has done and so it is time for him to move and time for us to replace him.

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"We do wish him well and I understand the emotions of supporters who were disappointed and we were disappointed too but it is overshadowed by my wonderful memories of him.

"I'll never forget that pass he made, the corner he took, for the fourth goal against Barcelona. That was just a work of genius and as a football fan, watching some of his assists, the way he would pass the ball 30-plus yards to a specific point and create a goal was just...no wonder Real Madrid are delighted!"

The conversation with the Liverpool chief takes place the day Dua Lipa kicks off the first of two sold-out Anfield shows, which come just days after the legendary Bruce Springsteen wowed fans with a cameo from Sir Paul McCartney and such summer events have become staples for Anfield in the last few years.

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It's a lucrative time for the club itself, particularly given the ground is around 18 months removed from having officially opened the new-look Anfield Road end, which has taken the capacity up to 61,000. But having ploughed around £200m into the infrastructure over the last decade to increase capacity and renovate the Main Stand and Anfield Road ends, what does FSG have up their sleeve next for one of the most famous venues in sport?

"We are comfortable that this is the right size now, more or less," says the Fenway chief. "We'd like to have the back of the house work a little bit. We're expanding the club store at Anfield and we are not shy about how we can generate more revenues because the more revenues we generate the more you can plough it into the pitch and the success on the pitch.

"When Newcastle played us in the Carabao Cup they dominated us and there are five or six teams that could actually be champions next year but we hope that we're the one that is hoisting it aloft next May. There's more space here in this room for one..."

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