Liverpool have replicated transfer masterplan to secure Arne Slot after intense data drive

When Liverpool were insisting the search for Jurgen Klopp's successor would be a data-driven process, they were not simply paying lip-service to their reputation as a leader in the field.

And perhaps surprisingly, given owners Fenway Sports Group were made aware of Jurgen Klopp's end-of-season intentions as far back as November, the hunt for a successor to the vaunted German only really gathered pace around a month ago.

The circumstances around Klopp's departure differed to the typical exit of a manager who is relieved of his duties or leaves at the end of a contract. Klopp left on his own terms, well before his contract was up, but not abruptly.

Owners FSG, in fact, were informed over six months before Klopp's final day at work and he leaves behind a squad that had been built at considerable cost and ready to take the next step together now they are back in the Champions League.

An exhaustive search was undertaken to find a man whose style of play best resembled the German's hard-running, high-pressing ethos because the players brought to the club in recent years - Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and all four of a midfield rebuild that cost £150m - were specifically recruited based on the stylistics preferred by Klopp and his backroom staff.

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Liverpool had little reason to believe their manager would not be seeing out the length of a contract that ran until 2026 when those players were added to the squad, so there were few qualms investing and replenishing the core of players in Klopp's image.

And given it is a brand of football that