Why A Champions League Masterclass Has Highlighted A Major Problem Of Arne Slot's

Why A Champions League Masterclass Has Highlighted A Major Problem Of Arne Slot's

On Tuesday night Manchester City played host to Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League; the away side left Manchester with a 2-0 win and clean sheet, with a dominant performance from Englishman Jarell Quansah.

The defender joined the German side in the summer in a £35 million deal with Liverpool, where Quansah broke through from the academy, featuring 30 times in the Premier League, with 18 starts.

But despite having a great first season in the first-team squad at Liverpool, with many very excited by his talent and seeing him as a future successor to Liverpool legend Virgil Van Dijk. The departure of Jurgen Klopp and the arrival or Arne Slot would change everything.

Jarell Quansah helped his side keep a clean-sheet against Man City tonight 👏

Liverpool could do with him right now 🥺 pic.twitter.com/7i3fNGfHRI

— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) November 25, 2025

Jarell and Liverpool fans were looking forward to the start of the 2024/25 season, with this being Slot's first season in charge. This really seemed like the season where Quansah was going to become a week-in, week-out starter for Liverpool, with a fantastic pre-season from the Englishman.

The first game came around and Quansah was starting; however, after a shaky first 45 minutes, Slot was ruthless and brought him off at half-time! From this point onwards, Quansah barely managed to feature, let alone start. It seemed like this one match made Slot's decision on whether the defender was good enough for Liverpool Football Club.

Jarell Quansah vs Manchester City (A)- 25/11/25pic.twitter.com/RquJqEhgSW

— ʟꜰ✾¹⁷ (@LukFloes) November 26, 2025

Quansah has not looked back since his move to Germany; he is starting every week for Leverkusen and is featuring regularly in Thomas Tuchel's England camps. His recent performance vs Manchester City was phenomenal; he really looks like he has gone up another level this season. And the example of Quansah got me thinking: does Slot neglect the youth at Liverpool?

Liverpool had quite the clear-out in the summer transfer window; among the players leaving were quite a few youth players. The Reds have become known for providing a great pathway for the youth players under Klopp, with the youth lads often named 'Klopp's Kids' because he would love to feature them in order to further their development. This hasn't been the same with Slot. He often has youth players on the bench but they barely ever feature for the first-team squad.

Take Trey Nyoni for example; the 18-year-old made his first feature for the first team under Klopp, and he has been touted as one of the brightest up-and-coming midfielders in England. However, he hasn't had this same sort of love from Slot since the Dutchman joined.

He is a usual in first-team training and makes the bench quite a lot for Slot; he almost never features, though. This is stunting his growth as a player, as sometimes the under-21 games overlap with a first-team match, in which he will miss out on playing in order to make the bench and get zero minutes. This needs to change, as his talent is too high for him to not be developing.

Another example is Rio Ngumoha. Right now, the young lad has been electric every time he has come on for Liverpool. He has looked really good off the left for the Reds, with Gakpo looking below his usual level in almost every game so far. Despite this, Slot picks Gakpo every match without fail, with Rio having to sit and watch him cut inside and shoot at every opportunity possible; he must be itching to get on the pitch instead of him!

Some may say that Rio is far too young to be starting for Liverpool, but with how bad Liverpool have been and how positive he has looked, surely it wouldn't be any worse to let the young lad start. Just look at Lamine Yamal; if you are good enough, you are old enough! Rio scored one of Liverpool's biggest goals this season vs Newcastle but since that moment he has barely got a look in.

Slot's got some big decisions coming up with his job on the line... if he keeps picking the same losing side every week, he will certainly be sacked!

Quansah for Leverkusen vs City
Konate for Liverpool vs City

Slot wasn't convinced by Quansah after his performances but now he's persisting with Konate who's having a nightmare season pic.twitter.com/wWiI8XJqrD

— Dom✨ (@footy_road) November 25, 2025

Liverpool have been losing every single week to every side imaginable. Even with this, Slot still picks the same players week in week out and doesn't give the youth a single chance. The defence has looked absolutely shambolic this season; Liverpool could really do with Jarell Quansah right now... It did seem like really good business in the summer, to be fair, but no one back then expected the magnificent fall-off from Liverpool this season.

They do have a buyback clause in his contract which can be activated in 2027 for approximately £60 million, but that is 2 years from now.... If they do want him back in the future, they are going to have to cough up a good few pennies, and it seems quite likely that Slot won't be the one in the dugout at Liverpool then!