5 Liverpool players with a chance to impress Arne Slot in pre-season

Arne Slot has had a few weeks to cast his eyes over a Liverpool squad that is without 11 first team stars due to their international commitments during the summer. This has given a group of young players on the fringes an opportunity to impress their new manager.

A new manager can bring new ideas which have the potential to suit certain players better, but most importantly, it offers a clean slate for everyone. Liverpool have been inactive in the transfer market because Arne Slot reportedly wants to weigh up his current options before making any permanent decisions.

So let's take a look at five players with the opportunity to impress Arne Slot in pre-season:

1. Fabio Carvalho

The Portuguese attacking midfielder had a breakthrough year at Fulham in the 2021-2022 season. Carvalho's 10 goals and eight assists helped guide Fulham to promotion. With his contract due to expire at the end of the season, Liverpool seized upon a unique market opportunity and agreed a £5 million compensation fee with Fulham to bring Carvalho to Anfield.

His debut season at Anfield showed early glimpses of promise with the dramatic late winner against Newcastle a highlight. However, as Liverpool's season went from bad to worse, Fabio Carvalho found himself exiled by Jurgen Klopp. He finished the season with just eight starts, completing 90 minutes on only one occasion.

Clearly out of favour, Carvalho moved on loan to RB Leipzig, but he found playing time even harder in Germany and was swiftly recalled in January.

Carvalho joined Hull City on loan for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. He scored nine goals and provided two assists as Hull narrowly missed out on the play off places.

Now Carvalho finds himself back at Anfield with a point to prove to a new manager whose system may suit him more than Jurgen Klopp's. Carvalho has spoken publicly of his desire to play as a 10 and although Arne Slot rebuffed the idea of his system being a 4-2-3-1, the freedom and fluidity which he discussed could be beneficial for Carvalho.

The new Champions League format guarantees more games for the European elite and a good pre-season could force Carvalho into Slot's plans as a valued squad option.

2. Tyler Morton

Tyler Morton is another talent who enjoyed a successful loan spell at Hull City and is likely to be given an extended spell in pre-season to impress Arne Slot.

The academy graduate has already featured for Liverpool in a variety of games against different levels of opposition. Out on loan Morton picked up valuable experience, playing 87 times across the last two seasons.

How Arne Slot views Tyler Morton could heavily influence Liverpool's transfer plans. Wataru Endo was signed last summer following a very public failure to acquire a world-class holding midfielder.

Endo and Mac Allister went on to share responsibilities as Liverpool's deepest midfielder with varying results. Endo took time to acclimatise having arrived so late in the transfer window, while Mac Allister was much more effective when utilised further forward. After a hot streak between December and March, Endo visibly struggled with the intensity as the season drew to a close.

Despite being a solid option, it is clear that Endo cannot be solely relied upon to be Liverpool's number six for a whole season and it could be argued that the role is the biggest weakness in Arne Slot's squad.

Tyler Morton will be given the opportunity to prove to Slot that he can compete with Endo for a starting role and therefore free up Alexis Mac Allister to be used in a more offensive role.

Stefan Bajectic may also come into consideration but following almost a year out of action, expectations may need to be managed with the young Spaniard.

3. Sepp van den Berg

For a player who has only featured four times for Liverpool and never made a league appearance, Van den Berg has surprisingly divided opinion amongst Reds' fans.

After featuring in the Eredivisie 21 times at a very young age, Liverpool made the decision to bring Van den Berg to Anfield for a £1.3m fee.

The Dutchman spent the majority of his first season at Liverpool playing for their U21 side, but he did feature sporadically in the domestic cup competitions.

In the January window of the 2020-2021 season, unhappy with his lack of playing opportunities, Van Den Berg headed out on loan to Preston North End. This began a two-and-a-half-year spell away from Anfield.

All of his loan spells have yielded high praise and his recorded speed of 34.78 km/h ranked him in the top 50 fastest players in the Bundesliga last season. Recovery pace is a necessity in high defensive lines and Van den Berg could be a useful asset for Arne Slot. However, his comments following the end of his loan at FSV Mainz have caused a stir in some quarters.

"You (Liverpool) didn't exude confidence in me all this time, but you do want to hinder my future. I want to keep playing every week and develop myself further," Van den Berg said (via Goal.com)

Arne Slot appears unfazed by Van den Berg's plea to be allowed to leave and has instead opted to give his compatriot an opportunity to impress.

The departure of Joel Matip upon the expiry of his contract has theoretically left an opening at centre-back. However, the fast tracked progress of Jarell Quansah means that Liverpool have Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Quansah, and Joe Gomez as central defenders. This leaves Arne Slot and Van Den Berg with questions to answer.

Firstly, does Arne Slot believe Van den Berg is a good enough to be an option and would he be comfortable relying upon him in the biggest games?

Secondly, if Slot fancies Van den Berg, does the Dutch defender wish to stick around to potentially be a fourth-choice centre-back? Van den Berg has already spoken publicly about his desire to play regular football, so it would seem like quite a dramatic u-turn. However, should Slot convince Van den Berg to stay, then it could save Liverpool the difficult task of convincing a new defender to join as fourth choice.

4. Owen Beck

After spending the 2022-23 season in turmoil, Owen Beck has seemingly revived his young career with a strong loan spell in Scotland. The deep Liverpool connection is often mentioned, being a relative of Liverpool legend Ian Rush. After two failed loan spells at Famalicao and Bolton Wanderers, it appeared that Beck would have to make his career elsewhere.

In the summer of 2023, Beck joined Dundee in the Scottish Premiership on loan. Unlike his previous loan spells, the Welshman was a guaranteed starter and quickly became a fan favourite. His energetic attacking play from left-back drew comparisons to Andy Robertson during the successful years under Jurgen Klopp.

During an injury crisis in January, Beck was recalled to Liverpool to provide cover at left-back. Joe Gomez ultimately proved himself to be a solid option there and Beck was used on just one occasion for seven minutes off the bench. Upon Kostas Tsimikas' return to fitness, Beck returned to Dundee.

Beck picked up where he left off, providing an assist on his return, but his season ended early with a groin issue. The Welshman finished the season with two goals and four assists in 25 league games, whilst also earning recognition in the Scottish PFA team of the year.

The uncertain future of Kostas Tsimikas and Andy Robertson's age could open a pathway into the first team at Liverpool as they begin their succession planning.

Slot will likely use the American tour to assess his options at left-back before deciding to either move Kostas Tsimikas on or send Owen Beck out on another loan.

5. Harvey Blair

Of all the young talent utilised over the last few seasons, Harvey Blair has become somewhat of a forgotten man.

Despite not featuring for Liverpool's U21 side, Blair was surprisingly drafted in to start in the 2021-2022 League Cup tie against Preston North End. He was substituted after 55 minutes and the right winger was hardly ever seen again with the first team.

Blair was mooted with a potential loan switch last summer, but a cruel knee injury ended any hopes of a move and heavily impacted his involvement at the academy level.

Since his surprise debut, others have leapfrogged him in the pecking order of young attackers who can play on the right.

Kaide Gordon showed brief glimpses of being a potential understudy to Salah, even scoring his first goal for the club in the FA Cup against Shrewsbury. But a similar fate lay ahead as a disruptive injury put his footballing career on hold. Ben Doak then took over from where Gordon left off and wowed with his impressive direct wing play. However, after 10 appearances across a variety of competitions, a potential breakthrough season was brought to an abrupt end with a season-ending knee injury.

Now all three are back fully fit and have a chance to impress Arne Slot in pre-season. Another weakness in the Liverpool squad is the lack of an understudy to Mohammed Salah. At the age of 32, Liverpool may need to start managing the Egyptian's minutes and Blair appears to have caught Slot's eye so far.

Loan interest in Kaide Gordon and Doak may offer Blair the opportunity to remain with the first team and provide cover for Salah. Slot may ultimately choose to sign a new right winger, but the lack of concrete links to forwards indicates that Slot is willing to give Harvey Blair a chance to impress in pre-season.

#1 Fabio Carvalho

Fabio Carvalho arrived at Anfield with huge promise in the summer of 2022. Despite some early flashes of quality- including a dramaitc late winner at Anfield against Newcastle, the Portugese playmaker found himself exiled from Jurgen Klopp's squad by the end of the 2022/2023 season. As Liverpool's season went from bad to worse Fabio Carlvalho's chances faded as Jurgen Klopp chose to rely upon players he could trust.

Largely used as a left winger or a centre midfielder Carvalho never really seemed to fit in Klopp's plans and Carvalho was critical of this aspect of Liverpool's plans:

“I feel like why it didn't work out at Liverpool was because of the position I was playing. I was playing on the left, which isn't really my position. I was told that I would play as a no. 10, but we didn't really play with a no 10" as per Transfer Markt.

Out of all the players in the Liverpool squad, Fabio Carvalho could be the one who has the potential to benefit most from a new manager and a new system. Arne Slot has notirously used a 4-2-3-1 formation during his managerial stints at Feyenoord, AZ Alkamaar and Cambuur. Should Slot continue this pattern then Carvalho will have a chance to fight for a place as the number ten.

Alexis MacAllister and Dominic Szoboszlai are other contenders for the number ten position, but with them not due to return from international duty until a later date, Fabio Carvalho will be competing with Harvey Elliott from day one of pre-season to