Liverpool have confirmed the arrival of three coaches alongside Arne Slot.
Slot has finally spoken to the press for the first time as Liverpool head coach, addressing a number of topics on Wednesday.
It has been a long wait for Reds fans to get a glimpse of their new boss at the AXA Training Centre. It now fully feels like a new era at Liverpool is underway.
As well as Slot, three new members of the Liverpool coaching team have been appointed. Sipke Hulshoff joins as Slot’s assistant, with Ruben Peeters hired as lead physical performance coach.
Finally, there was a surprise announcement from Slot that a new goalkeeping coach has been brought in. Fabian Otte arrives from the USA national team.
Fabian Otte arrives on Joe Hart recommendation
What Liverpool’s goalkeeping department will look like under Slot remains slightly unclear.
The future of Caoimhin Kelleher is still likely to be away from Anfield, while Adrian is also yet to commit to a new contract with Liverpool.
In amongst all of that, the Reds were seemingly turned down by Feyenoord head of goalkeeping Jyri Nieminen.
But while the issues surrounding Kelleher and Adrian are yet to be resolved, at least Liverpool now have the matter of who will be coaching Alisson Becker and co put to bed.
And according to the Liverpool ECHO, Otte comes with quite the reputation.
They claim that the 33-year-old has been hired after Liverpool received a glowing recommendation from former Man City goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Hart is not the only one to have urged the Reds to hire Otte either. Current Inter Milan and Switzerland shot-stopper Yann Sommer is another to have reportedly sang the coach’s praises.
Hart worked with Otte as he spent time with Burnley as assistant goalkeeping coach in 2020/21, while Sommer came across him while at Borussia Monchengladbach.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool taking shape
There is not a lot of time for Slot’s new coaching team to assemble themselves and come up with a plan for the Liverpool squad.
For Otte in particular, he’s going to have to hit the ground running. The German is with the USA national team until they get knocked out of Copa America, which starts on Friday.
Should America go deep in the tournament – which is played in the US – Otte could be indisposed until mid-July.
From there, it’s probable that he would stay in the US and await Liverpool’s arrival on their pre-season tour. As a result, it could be just days before the season starts that Otte checks in at the AXA.
Although that isn’t ideal, it’s still nice to know that Slot’s Liverpool is finally starting to really take shape. Exciting times ahead.