Arne Slot Excludes Loan Transfer for Liverpool Midfielder James McConnell in January Window

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has dismissed the possibility of James McConnell leaving on loan during the January transfer window. McConnell made his first start in the Champions League against PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday night.

The 20-year-old midfielder was one of the standout players for the Reds, despite their 3-2 loss to the Eredivisie champions. He played the full 90 minutes for the Premier League leaders, who had already secured automatic qualification for the last 16.

McConnell had a breakthrough season with Liverpool’s senior squad last year, making nine appearances under Jurgen Klopp and being part of the team that defeated Chelsea 1-0 to win the Carabao Cup.

Although McConnell was expected to go on loan last summer, he missed most of the first half of Slot’s first season due to injury. He returned last month and has since made three appearances.

Slot revealed that he would meet with sporting director Richard Hughes on Thursday to discuss which players might be loaned out before the window closes, including Jayden Danns, Tyler Morton, and Trey Nyoni.

However, the Dutch manager confirmed that McConnell is still part of his plans for the remainder of the season.

Slot stated: “There’s always a chance in life. At the moment we have most of our players fit, so we will have this discussion tomorrow, me and Richard [Hughes], about these players.”

He continued, “There is definitely one of them that will not go on loan – and I think you know which one I mean. James McConnell. I wouldn’t say definitely, but I liked him a lot today, so maybe now the end result today would be it’d be good for him to go somewhere and play.”

“He was also a player that hasn’t played in the last six or seven months 90 minutes because he was injured for a while. He impressed me a lot today.”

Slot further added: “If I would have been surprised it would mean during training sessions he is not able to play at this level and that’s not the truth, because he is competitive to the ones we have that were not even here.”

“He is always a very competitive player, so I am not surprised but you always wonder how are you going to react on this stage and at this level.”

“We saw the same with Amara Nallo, which is not a player that has the same impact in training sessions yet as James McConnell.”

“That James plays and is competitive is not a surprise but he definitely deserves credit for his performance today.”