Former Feyenoord and Liverpool star Dirk Kuyt has insisted that Arne Slot is ready to deal with the pressure and expectations of being the manager of the Merseyside giants.
Slot has come out in the open about his wishes to join Liverpool and is waiting for Feyenoord to agree compensation with the Reds.
Liverpool are expected to get a deal over the line and confirm Slot as the man to succeed Jurgen Klopp at the end of the season after they reached a verbal agreement with Feyenoord.
Observers are circumspect about Liverpool going for Slot as the Dutchman is unproven outside the Netherlands and his side are currently second behind PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie.
However, Kuyt, a Feyenoord legend, is certain that Slot is ready for the job and pointed out that even Klopp was unproven outside Germany when he became the Liverpool manager in 2015.
He conceded that it is not right to compare Liverpool and Feyenoord, but insisted that Slot has dealt with pressure and expectations and has been a huge positive influence on the Rotterdam club.
The former Red wrote in a column for The Athletic: “He’s ready for the next step in his career.
“The doubters will say, ‘But Arne Slot has never trained a foreign team’, but we know how successful Jurgen proved to be and he hadn’t coached outside his homeland before he came to Liverpool.
“Louis van Gaal once said, ‘When you’re ready, you’re ready.’ It doesn’t matter what age you are or how much experience you have — it’s about your qualities.
“You can’t compare Feyenoord with Liverpool but Arne is used to dealing with pressure and high expectations.
“When he’s been faced with difficult situations, when results didn’t work out, when he was faced with difficult questions from the media, he always stayed in control and stuck to his principles and the vision of how he wanted to play.
“He never gave me a negative experience.”
Slot won the Eredivisie last season and recently picked up the Dutch Cup as Feyenoord manager.
