Liverpool head coach Arne Slot attended the club's pre-match press conference for the final game of the 2024/25 season on Friday and in addition to updating the team's injury situation, he also responded to multiple questions from reporters about right-wing back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

When reporters asked Slot if he had recently talked to Alexander-Arnold about the overall negative feeling which was targeting him, he said that as always, he had regular conversations with every player, not just Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, and no player would be "purple binned" (local Liverpool dialect, meaning that people who were born and raised in Liverpool are treated differently).

He also admitted that because many fans and the media have had a bad feeling of the player recently, he naturally had more frequent conversations with Alexander-Arnold.

Slot revealed that in fact, during the pre-season, he had summoned Alexander-Arnold into the office for reprimands about negative issues many times.

He said that he was dissatisfied with the player's attitude and encouraged him to do better in his defending, thus he once advised Alexander-Arnold to focus on showing everyone his defensive abilities to fight back against those who criticized him.

Slot said with a smile: "I think he should have said that he was called to my office to be reprimanded. Anyway, since he is leaving, so I might as well be frank. Just regard it as my first gift to Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid potential new head coach candidate), haha!"

"I am not actually satisfied with every minute and every second of his training. In my opinion, to be fair, sometimes he can definitely do better. That's what we talked about."

"Plus, I once told him that you are a better defender, than many people who criticize you think. Unfortunately, you don't often prove this side of you to people. So, some people often criticize you for saying that defense is one of your main responsibilities, you should improve, or that you are useless." 

"I told him that you can try to make a breakthrough in the problems they criticize you for, because you are a fast and agile player. The key is that you just need to show this to everyone every week, because as you can see now, we should not only be doing our best in the last 34 games, but also in the last four games. This is what we talked about during the pre-season. "

For the recent rumours that Barcelona mouthpieces, led by Mundo Deportivo, which have been constantly spreading rumours that the club's Sporting Director Deco admires and wants to sign Luis Díaz, Slot believes that if it is true, Deco's behaviour is very disgusting.

Slot criticized: "Every club has its own unique way of dealing with the issue on player transfers, but I believe that all the reporters here should be accustomed to my style of dealing with things. We never discuss too much about any player we have not signed yet."

"I know he admires Díaz, because I admire him and the excellent players in his club as well. Yes, they are also like us. They have performed very well this season, so if he said those words in this regard, I have no problem at all."

"If it is really in this aspect, maybe he can also say that he also admires Cody Gakpo or Mohamed Salah very much, but I know this is not what he thinks. So then, I will tell him that I also admire Lamine Yamal and Raphinha very much, what should I do?!"

Finally, when reporters asked Slot if he was worried that letting Alexander-Arnold play in the final game against Crystal Palace on Sunday would destroy the joy of the fans' expectation of the trophy ceremony, he hoped and believed that the Reds fans would not embarrass everyone in the club.

Slot said: "I haven't decided what to do with Trent on that day, but I think that day should be a day of celebration for everyone. After all, I dare not say everyone, but Liverpool fans, everyone has been waiting for this day for 35 years."

"I think we set a good example on the day against Tottenham Hotspur. I have never seen a better way to celebrate winning the title than that day. That is one of the factors that touched me. Another is that when we arrived at the stadium on the team bus, everyone sang for us. Another point is that many people told me last week that they have been to Anfield many times in their lives, but they have never felt the same as the day against Spurs, inside and outside the stadium." 

"I sincerely hope that we can experience this feeling again. I think everyone in and outside the stadium that day, including fans, staff, players, including Trent, deserves to welcome the arrival of that day in the happiest way, because he has made the greatest and most successful contribution to this club for many years. I can only hope that our fans can welcome the arrival of Sunday like the day against Spurs, and I have great confidence in the fans. "

On the other hand, regarding Alexander-Arnold's recent experience, legendary former head coach Jürgen Klopp, who was attending the Liverpool  Foundation Charity dinner, also expressed his disappointment that some fans chose to boo the player.

Klopp said: "I have a jersey signed by only Trent and myself that I want to auction off. Before I went on stage, the host told me to try not to mention Trent to avoid making the atmosphere awkward."

"But what I want to say is that I am old, and I know some people will say that I am a thing of the past at Liverpool, and I am not qualified to talk about Trent's treatment or Salah's goal record."

"But the fact is that I was here, with the players every day, including Trent, and I witnessed his efforts with everyone. You must know that without him, we would not have achieved what we have today."

"If he hadn't scored against Hoffenheim when he was 18 years old, we would have been eliminated from the Champions League. If he hadn't used his wit to stage that "Corner Taken Quickly" he would not have been able to assist Divock Origi, we would not have won 4-0 against Barcelona, and there would have been no miracle that night. "

"I have watched a lot of Premier League games this season. I watched the TV broadcast against Arsenal that day. I saw you booing him when he came on. At first I thought I might have heard it wrong because I was old, so I turned up the volume, but I didn't expect to hear even louder boos. After 10 seconds, I turned off the TV. I was very disappointed because this is not our usual style. "

"I have no right to stop you from being disappointed or angry, I have no right to force you to deal with it, I just want everyone not to forget and deny things, because as a part of this club, we never forget or deny anyone or anything. We can never forget some bad things, but we can never forget the good things. "

"All we can do is ignore the bad things, but always remember the good things, cherish the past together, and learn to become better. "

"You can feel sad, angry, and unable to accept this fact, but I am the best example to prove this point. This guy has given his all to this club and this badge. Now he just decided to leave the team after playing for this club for more than 20 years. The people who should be more angry than everyone else should be me, or the club's owners, because he left the club as a free agent, but they didn't. "

"He has always been very dedicated to Liverpool from a psychological and external perspective. How to evaluate his future will be left for us to decide later, but he will always be a part of us. Trent Alexander-Arnold deserves the best farewell."