Virgil Van Dijk Admits Arne Slot Sacking “Was a Surprise”

With players having linked up with their national teams ahead of the World Cup this week, it’s the first time many Liverpool players will have been put in the position of being asked about the managerial changes taking place at the club following a disappointing 2025-26 campaign.

When the season ended on May 24th and players headed off on break before their international commitments began, the consensus was that Arne Slot would continue at Liverpool’s manager.

By the following weekend, Slot was gone—and now Andoni Iraloa is on the verge of being appointed.

“That was a surprise,” captain Virgil van Dijk admitted when asked about Slot’s sacking over the weekend and whether he had expected it. “I landed in Amsterdam on Saturday afternoon and it had already leaked. After that I talked with the club, but the decision had already been made.

“It’s not like they asked me about it first so that was when I heard about it, but I think that’s the world we live in, everyone wants to be the first. I did speak with Arne and Spike [Hulshoff] and I’m very grateful to them for what they have meant to me and the club and I wish them success.

“But hopefully Liverpool will come out of this well, because this season was below par as a club.”

Despite that the quick move to bring in Iraola makes it appear as though perhaps a change may have been in the works for some time, reports have suggested it represented a late change in course and that Liverpool had genuinely intended to persist with Slot when the season ended.

When the whistle blew on the 2025-26 season, Liverpool were even working to bring in favoured Feyenoord-era assistant Etiënne Reijnen to bolster Slot’s coaching staff ahead of next season.

It’s a situation where those of us on the outside may never know for certain just how events unfolded—or who in the end forced the club to change course—but the reality now is that after a season that was very much below par for the club Slot is out and Iraola is arriving.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com