Arne Slot: Bournemouth success down to Liverpool transfer chief | OneFootball

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has lauded the work done at Bournemouth by Richard Hughes before the sporting director left the south coast club for Merseyside in the summer.

Hughes made more than 100 Premier League appearances for Portsmouth before ending his playing career outside the top flight with Bournemouth. The former Atalanta and Arsenal academy midfielder spent a decade as the Cherries' technical director, overseeing an unprecedented run of five consecutive seasons at the top of England's footballing pyramid.

While the talismanic managerial figure of Eddie Howe left Bournemouth in 2020, Hughes remained, eventually appointing Andoni Iraola in 2023 before agreeing to become Liverpool's sporting director last summer.

"Richard left that club in a very, very good place," Slot, who arrived on Merseyside at the same time as Hughes, said before Liverpool travelled to Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.

"It's no surprise to me that they are able to compete with every single team in the league," Slot continued. "They have a lot of quality, created by Richard. He hired a fantastic manager. Justin [Kluivert] is one of the many examples where Richard deserves a lot of credit. You need quality and that is what Richard brought there."

Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth team are on a 12-game unbeaten streak / Alex Livesey/GettyImages

Despite his connection with the Cherries, Slot was not relying upon Hughes' inside knowledge of the club. "He tells us what we are already seeing," the Dutch coach shrugged. "It's not that important if he tells me things I don't know like whether a player is married and has children, that will not influence the game tomorrow. But he definitely sees the things we are seeing because of their playing style and the manager is the same. What I see he confirms is true."

Bournemouth have not been beaten in any competition since November and have already claimed several notable scalps at their Vitality Stadium home this season. "It's one of the toughest games," Slot warned. "They've shown already by beating Arsenal there and beating City there. They lost to Chelsea but missed a penalty, and have conceded only seven goals at home.

"The second half [of Liverpool's 3-0 victory over Bournemouth in September] we played against them showed me they are a serious team. If you are 3-0 down and can keep competing and working that hard in the second half that tells you a lot about the mentality of the team."

Despite losing at Anfield, Bournemouth racked up 19 shots, 12 of which were from inside the box - no other team has been able to better either tally in any meeting with Liverpool this season.