Arne Slot opens up on 'difficult' Liverpool transfer decisions as fans start to lose patience

Arne Slot believes the departures of Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg, both to Brentford, represented good business for all parties, but conceded it was "difficult" to keep letting players leave.

Carvalho joined the West London club for £22.5million rising to £27.5million, while Van den Berg has also joined Brentford, moving for an initial £20million fee which could rise to £25million if various add-on clauses are met.

The pair are the latest players to exit Liverpool's squad from last season following the departures of Adrian, Joel Matip and Thiago Alcantara. Bobby Clark also left the Reds to join RB Salzburg this week.

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Speaking at his Friday press conference, Slot admitted it wasn't easy to keep seeing young players leave the club. "It's a difficult one as young players want to play," he said. "We still have a lot of home grown players. One of them Trey Nyoni, 17, is training with us every day."

Slot was also asked about Brentford signing two of Liverpool's young players ahead of the Bees' trip to Anfield on Sunday.

"I think they have signed two talented players (Van den Berg and Carvalho)," the manager responded. "Both left because they played a lot last season and wanted to continue the journey of playing time.

"There is so much competition here they wouldn't play every minute. It's a good deal for us, Brentford and the players. Everyone is happy unless they do too well on Sunday! Thomas Frank is doing a really good job. It's going to be a challenge for us."

Liverpool is the only Premier League club that is yet to sign a new player this summer, and the transfer window is due to close in just over a week's time.

Meanwhile, Slot said that he feels Liverpool is on the right track under his stewardship after its opening-day victory over Ipswich, but admitted plenty of work lies ahead for him and his team.

"I think we're on a good track, but you have to understand some of them have only been here for three weeks," Slot added. "It's not only about us but about what the opponents bring to the game. Ipswich made it difficult for us. We got a bit more space and you could see how good the boys played. Still a lot of work to do but it's the first step."