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New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot insists his side have not been weakened by a lack of signings.
The Reds are the only Premier League team yet to bring anyone in after their pursuit of Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi was ended when the Spain international rejected a move to Anfield.
Centre-back Joel Matip, midfielder Thiago Alcantara and second-choice goalkeeper Adrian all left the club at the end of their contracts, while Fabio Carvalho was sold to Brentford in a £27.5million deal.
The departure of manager Jurgen Klopp after nine years at Anfield also represents a huge change for the club but Slot, who arrived from Feyenoord in June, is confident progress can be made with the quality of the squad he inherited.
And he has not ruled out sporting director Richard Hughes coming up with a signing before the end of the window.
“I’ve said many times already our squad is really strong and it’s not easy to find players who can help us or strengthen the squad,” he said ahead of their Premier League opener at Ipswich.
“Zubimendi was one of them to be fair but he decided not to come. We go forward with the ones we have. We are in a good place.
“In the background Richard is trying to strengthen the squad as he can, unfortunately Zubimendi decided not to come.
“He did every effort and tried everything to bring him in but if a player doesn’t want to come, it’s obvious he’s not coming.”
It was put to Slot that being the only top flight club not to make a signing had seen them fall behind where they were last season, when they won the Carabao Cup and finished third.
“That argument I don’t understand. If you don’t strengthen the team you become weaker?,” he added.
“That’s a bit weird as normally you’d either stay the same or I truly believe on the training ground you can help players and teams to improve.
“That’s what happened here in recent years. The training ground really helped the team improve.
“Maybe what you mean is that if the clubs around you do strengthen their team then maybe they become better, but it’s not always true that if you bring in new players the team becomes stronger.”
Slot has consistently stated that signings will only be made if they can improve the squad and while the search continues he believes he can bring the best out of the existing group.
“We are always talking here about transfers but it’s positive that we have kept our players,” he said.
“I also believe in general that every player in the team needs to have perspective on playing time and if you keep bringing players in then sometimes the energy in the group goes down as well.
“We are in a good place at the moment – Jurgen left the team in a good place and we are trying to build from there.
“Last season they won a trophy with this team – we are aiming for the same this season. It’s not going to be easy as there a lot of strong teams in the Premier League who have strengthened their squad but we are looking forward to the challenge.”
