Wayne Rooney Eviscerates Arne Slot, Calls Out Three Liverpool Players

The retired Manchester United icon was supported in some of his views by Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher.

Wayne Rooney (left) had plenty to say about Arne Slot. | The Overlap/YouTube/Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images

Former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney claimed that Arne Slot doesn’t have “the aura” befitting a Liverpool manager while also singling Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson out for criticism.

Given his ties to United and boyhood support of Everton, it’s perhaps no surprise that Rooney has revelled in Liverpool’s noticeable dip during the defence of their Premier League title.

As a former manager himself, Rooney has often taken a soft stance on Slot’s struggles from the dugout, with the retired striker far more willing to lambast his underperforming players. There appears to have been a change of heart.

“It’s strange isn’t it when you’re talking about Slot being on an audition to keep his job when he has obviously recently won the Premier League,” the 40-year-old mused on this week’s The Overlap.

“I have met him a couple of times, but I just don’t think, for Liverpool, he has that aura—and maybe that’s because Liverpool have just come off the back of Jürgen Klopp as manager—it’s difficult for anyone to do that but I just don’t think there is that aura about him.”

Slot wasn’t the only figure on Merseyside who came under fire from the proud Evertonian.

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‘Lost a Yard or Two’

Two modern Liverpool greats have come under criticism. | OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

As much as Slot’s authority has been questioned, Rooney boiled the team’s issues down to a question of characters. “If you look at Liverpool last season to now, Salah and Van Dijk haven’t been their best,” Rooney fretted. “Then you’ve got Trent [Alexander-Arnold] who’s missing, Robertson hasn’t played a lot of games, Luis Díaz [left] and the [Diogo] Jota situation.

“Even Darwin Núñez brought something, he wasn’t great, but he brought something. Liverpool have lost a lot of players so it’s sort of a rebuild period [for them].”

Salah’s downturn has been stark. The club’s perennial top scorer averaged a Premier League goal or assist every 72 minutes last season. This term—when Slot has been willing to risk his lack of defensive work rate—Salah’s ratio has plummeted to one every 154 minutes.

Rooney’s assessment of Van Dijk, whose performance levels haven’t been aided by an unrelenting schedule and lack of rest at the age of 34, was supported by former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher: “Van Dijk’s not quite the same player as last season as well.”

While Van Dijk and Salah “may have lost a yard or two” according to Rooney, Manchester United’s all-time record scorer insisted that one bad year “should not count against” their overall legacy.

“For me, Salah is one of the Premier League’s greatest of all time, and Van Dijk will be in the conversation as one of the best,” Rooney claimed. “I don’t think he is the best ever, but in this generation, he is certainly the best centre back, so you cannot hold that against those two players.”

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Rooney’s Prediction for Arne Slot Sacking

Liverpool could have an issue on their hands. | Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

Rooney was adamant that it is Champions League qualification or bust for Slot. “I have spoken to managers, and I know they can be difficult at times, but if he doesn’t get them top five in the Premier League, he will be gone, for sure,” he warned. “It’s crazy to say when he has just won the Premier League.”

Slot is of the opposite opinion. After falling behind both Manchester United and Chelsea into sixth place, the defiant Liverpool boss insisted that he will be safe as Jürgen Klopp failed to qualify for the Champions League and still retained his post. “The only thing I do know is that it happened before, and ­recently, and it didn’t affect the future of that manager,” he shrugged.

That stance assumes that Slot has built up the same credit in the bank as Klopp, who had won the Champions League, Premier League and been awarded the freedom of the city of Liverpool by the time he steered the Reds to fifth place in 2022–23.

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