A year after a record-breaking summer raised expectation around Liverpool, Arne Slot’s tenure at Anfield ended abruptly in the aftermath of the 2025–26 domestic season. He leaves with his Premier League winners’ medal intact but with a diminished legacy. Slot grew increasingly unpopular among players and supporters and was dismissed a week after the campaign closed.

Despite that bleak ending, the 47-year-old remains hireable. Several clubs are likely to consider him this summer, and his availability has already produced links. Below are four plausible destinations based strictly on developments since his Liverpool exit.

AC Milan
Milan endured a pitiful title charge that collapsed late in 2025–26. Massimiliano Allegri’s ideals were judged antiquated, and missing out on the Champions League after a position of strength midseason made his job untenable. The Rossoneri have pressed the reset button and have dismissed several high-profile figures. Slot was linked to the vacant Milan job immediately after his Liverpool dismissal. A manager who has won a Premier League title may be the type Milan now covet. Slot’s football can be functional, but at its best it offers a coherent way to use possession. It would be a big job given Milan’s prestige, and an opportunity many managers would find tempting.

Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen are also resetting. They concluded hiring Erik ten Hag a year earlier had been a mistake and replaced him with Kasper Hjulmand a few weeks into the season. Hjulmand guided the 2023–24 Bundesliga invincibles to the Champions League round of 16 and a sixth-place domestic finish. Leverkusen will be in the Europa League next season and treated Hjulmand largely as a stopgap. The club has reportedly targeted other candidates and will surely consider Slot now he is available. It would represent a step down from Liverpool and Milan, but Leverkusen offer a talented group with room to grow.

Ajax
Talk of Slot returning to his homeland emerged weeks before Liverpool fired him. He has been linked with Ajax after making his name by helping Feyenoord wrest control of the Eredivisie back from the Amsterdam club. Slot won the 2022–23 league title with Feyenoord. Ajax endured a tumultuous 2025–26, cycling through three managers after Francesco Farioli left following their title collapse. The club sounded out Michel, but Slot’s availability could prompt a rethink.

Netherlands national team
The Oranje post has rotated between Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman in recent years. Koeman is due to oversee the World Cup campaign in North America this summer and his contract expires at the end of July. The Netherlands reached the semifinals at Euro 2024 and remain credible contenders at the next tournament. With Van Gaal unlikely to take the job again, the national post could be open to an alternate face.

Florian Wirtz moved to calm a growing story around Mohamed Salah’s social media criticism of Liverpool’s style by explaining why he and several teammates felt comfortable publicly supporting the post. His remarks underline a dressing-room view at odds with how the episode was played up outside the club.

Salah wrote: “I want to see Liverpool go back to being the heavy metal attacking team that opponents fear and back to being a team that wins trophies,” Salah wrote. “That is the football I know how to play and that is the identity that needs to be recovered and kept for good. It cannot be negotiable and everyone that joins this club should adapt to it.”

Slot declined to comment on the post and would not confirm whether Salah would be involved in the season finale against Brentford on Sunday. Wirtz, though, offered a softer reading.

“Mo has known the club for a long time now,” Wirtz told The Athletic. “He’s just an honest guy. He says what he thinks. This should be O.K. If you want to speak, you should be able to speak. Of course, it was a bit of a difficult season for all of us, including Mo. In my opinion, it got made bigger than it was. I don’t think he attacked anyone.”

Pressed on why so many players had ‘liked’ Salah’s Instagram post, Wirtz said: “With the ‘likes’ players gave, I think it was made too big. For me, it was just a thing that he wanted to say because he’s leaving. He wanted to make everyone in the club alert that we have to work more and do better.

“We are all anything but happy with this season. I think we can still make a little bit out of it by qualifying for the Champions League on Sunday. We have to do that. Then in the summer, we need to clear our heads and attack next season, because we have a very good squad and we can do much better.”

Wirtz also rejected the idea of internal division: “The outside world is always trying to create something between the team and the manager,” Wirtz added. “But it’s totally different in this building. We are working well every day with this manager and his staff. There is no thought about not being behind the manager. This is just something [talked about] on the outside.”

Reports in the media have repeatedly debated Arne Slot’s future, but substantial coverage has concluded he will remain. Liverpool are reportedly set to reunite Slot with his former set-piece coach Etiënne Reijnen, who has told colleagues at Feyenoord he will join ahead of the 2026–27 season. Reijnen, who played alongside Slot at PEC Zwolle and later coached at Feyenoord, helped his side concede just 17 goals from dead balls across three seasons, the best record in the division. Only PSV have scored more from set pieces over the same period.

Marcos Senesi will be available on June 30 when his Bournemouth contract expires, and his free agent status makes him an efficient short-term option for clubs seeking defensive depth. The 28-year-old joined England in 2022 following Bournemouth’s promotion and has spent four seasons with the Cherries. Aside from a major hamstring injury that restricted him to 17 Premier League appearances last season, Senesi has generally been a regular starter and has played almost every minute so far in 2025–26.

Senesi’s record in England shows a player capable of surviving the demands of the Premier League. He is not presented as an elite defender but as a dependable squad member whose availability without a transfer fee is attractive to higher-table teams mindful of budgets.

Liverpool could view him as a cost-effective reinforcement. The 2025–26 campaign exposed limitations in centre-back depth at Anfield, and Senesi would be a less expensive alternative to triggering a reported $94.4 million (£69.6 million, €80 million) buy-back clause for Jarell Quansah. He is known to Arne Slot, having played under Slot at Feyenoord in 2021–22, when he made 50 appearances and helped the Dutch club reach the UEFA Conference League final.

Manchester United have reduced centre-back requirements by switching back to a 4-2-3-1 from Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1, yet persistent injuries to Lisandro Martínez and Matthijs de Ligt, the latter sidelined for the past four months, create uncertainty over numbers. When fit, Martínez and De Ligt, or Martínez and Harry Maguire, will start. Senesi could be a pragmatic free signing while resources are prioritised for two or more central midfield additions. There’s even a chance that Andoni Iraola ends up at Old Trafford in time for next season.

At Chelsea, a 28-year-old Senesi would arrive as one of the more experienced figures in an otherwise young defensive group. Chelsea expect to challenge for Premier League and Champions League honours, and there are question marks over Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo and Benoît Badiashile, who have been prone to costly mistakes. Trevoh Chalobah often operates alone, while Mamadou Sarr and Josh Acheampong have a combined age of 39 and remain very raw. Senesi’s experience and availability would therefore be of clear appeal.