Liverpool new transfer advantage emerges after Steven Gerrard and Jurgen Klopp interventions

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In a bygone era at Liverpool, Brendan Rodgers used to lean into the star power of Steven Gerrard when it came to the recruitment of transfer targets.

Insecure of his own standing within the European game and fearful that the club's enduring reputation did not light the fire of players from overseas in the early-to-mid 2010s, Rodgers would instead enlist the help of his captain to talk to those he hoped would come to Anfield.

"I had an unofficial role at the club, trying to persuade some great players to join Liverpool,’ Gerrard wrote in his 2015 book, My Story. "It was the same ritual every summer.

"The club would let me know which long-shot target they had in mind and then ask me to contact him. They thought that a request to consider moving to Liverpool would have more impact coming from me."

Willian was the first player Gerrard was tasked with making a charm offensive towards before 2010 World Cup winner and Real Madrid legend Toni Kroos was in the crosshairs further down the line. Neither player joined.

More recently, the beaming, megawatt personality of Jurgen Klopp proved an effective tool of seduction for Liverpool, with the manager becoming arguably the biggest star at the club at a time when they had an army of them throughout the playing staff.

Rarely did a player fail to mention the opportunity to play under Klopp as a motivating factor when Liverpool came calling and eventually completed the deal and the German was understood to have been particularly persuasive for the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, two of the club's more recent signings.

In 2024, however, perhaps few would have jotted down the presence of Arne Slot as a major factor in the thinking of would-be targets, if a move to Liverpool presented itself.

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Since Klopp's exit 12 months ago, the biggest allure of playing at Anfield has reverted back to being the club itself, with its history, traditions and worldwide support becoming important factors.

But having guided Liverpool to a second Premier League title in five years at the first time of asking, during a period where so many of the first-team squad have waxed lyrical about his methods, Slot, it might now reasonably be suggested, can be a deciding factor for transfer targets to pick Merseyside as their next destination.

The Reds boss admitted last week that the sort players he and sporting director Richard Hughes are assessing are not just wanted by the Premier League champions, meaning they will be, by definition, locked in a battle with rivals for the signatures of certain players.

For someone like Dean Huijsen, whose £50m release clause at Bournemouth is attracting several top clubs, there will be a major decision on the horizon this summer and while Chelsea have been reported to be the front runners at this stage, a settled and well-structured club like Liverpool must surely be the sensible option, even if the Londoners do secure Champions League football.

The chance to work under a coach as detail-oriented as Slot should appeal to those whose primary thought behind their next move does not centre on the bottom line of the wage packet.

And having shown exactly what he can do with a squad that is not his own, having added just Federico Chiesa to it last year, it must whet the appetite for many to imagine what Slot will be capable of when he gets his own complement of players starting this summer.

Having overseen the improvement of several in this title-winning campaign, like Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Ibrahima Konate and Szoboszlai, the chance to do likewise should appeal to those who are in the crosshairs of the recruitment department as an intriguing summer approaches.

Liverpool might just have found themselves a new weapon in the Premier League's transfer arms race.

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