Arne Slot’s close friend and former teammate Bram van Polen has admitted he’s found being the ‘big boss’ a ‘weird thing’ at Liverpool this season.
ESPN NL have an interview with Van Polen today in which they discuss Slot after Liverpool secured the Premier League title with a comprehensive win over Tottenham on Sunday.
It’s been an unforeseen successful first season in England for Slot, who arrived at Liverpool in the summer to replace Jurgen Klopp.
He came to Anfield with a big reputation after his time in the Netherlands with Feyenoord, but few had expected him to adapt quite as quickly to the Premier League as he has.
The anticipation had been that Liverpool would struggle in the post Klopp era given how other teams have fallen off when legacy managers have departed.
Instead, Slot has adapted the squad he inherited from the German manager and turned them into comfortable Premier League champions, with four games of the season remaining and the competition nowhere to be seen.
It’s seemingly been very easy for him in England so far, but Van Polen insists there is one ‘weird thing’ he’s had to deal with.
“Yes, the weird thing there is just how they look at him now,” he said.
“In England it’s already such a, in terms of hierarchy, say, he’s totally really the boss. Really the big boss there.
“And you don’t see that at all in the Netherlands. Never mind that that is also perhaps one of the biggest clubs in the world at the moment.”
