Arne Slot to Liverpool: From FC Zwolle to Cambuur, AZ Alkmaar to Feyenoord, the making of Liverpool's next manager

Arne Slot has emerged as the preferred candidate to replace the departing Jurgen Klopp as the next Liverpool manager but who is the man that the club believe can lead them into this new era and what can they expect from this 45-year-old Dutch coach?

In conversation with those who coached Slot and those who have been coached by him, as well as colleagues on his staff, we examine the making of Liverpool's next manager, exploring his tactical ideas, his man-management and his handling of the media.

'Lazy' is a word that occasionally comes up when discussing Slot as a player. More often it is slow. A languid No 10, there would have been no place for him in Slot's pressing game. "He was not the quickest but he had a great touch," Rob McDonald tells Sky Sports.

A former striker with Newcastle and PSV, McDonald was the assistant coach at FC Zwolle, Slot's boyhood club. He recently ran into Slot at a game between Feyenoord and Groningen, leading to a brief reunion following a double-take from Slot, a teenager no more.

"He could play," adds McDonald. "He was always one of these who looked around, a bit like [Paul] Gascoigne, and a bit like a couple of the other top players who had that ability to just keep a good straight body and have a good look around."

McDonald now recruits Dutch coaches for roles around the world but admits he did not necessarily anticipate Slot's coaching career. "I think he was just absorbing everything if I look back in hindsight." That curiosity for coaching came later in his playing days.

When Slot returned to Zwolle later in his career, then known as PEC Zwolle, he had become a leader on the field, asking questions, and demanding to understand the tactics. He joined the staff at the club before beginning