Richard Hughes and Arne Slot were reportedly at odds over a summer transfer which has come back to bite Liverpool in the Dutch manager’s harrowing second season at Anfield.

The Reds have now lost nine of their last 12 games in all competitions, their worst run since 1954, including six defeats in their last seven in the Premier League to leave them a whopping 11 points behind league-leaders Arsenal.

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A 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven at Anfield on Sunday was a new nadir, in a game where no Liverpool player was immune from criticism.

Cody Gakpo played the full 90 minutes and missed a golden chance to level the scores at 2-2 when he headed over from close range.

He’s arguably been one of Liverpool’s better players, certainly in the early stages of the season, having enjoyed more game time on the back of Luis Diaz’s ￡65.5m move to Bayern Munich in the summer.

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Slot said at the time that he was “disappointed” to see Diaz leave the club but admitted it was also “great business”.

“Luis is a player we won the league with and there’s a reason we won it with him because he’s a very good player,” said Slot. “It’s always disappointing to see someone like that leave, to a certain extent.

“But on the other hand, we’ve sold him for a lot of money and, as you probably know even better than I do, this football club brings in unbelievable signings over the years, but part of the strategy is also that once in a while we have to sell someone.

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“I think we did great business by bringing in Lucho for a number of years and then selling him for a very good profit. Lucho was a player who was a joy to work with because he always had a smile on his face every single day. I will remember him as someone who was a joy to work with and a Premier League title winner.”

But after a fast start at Bayern has seen Diaz contribute 11 goals and five assists in 18 games, Indy Kaila has told Caughtoffsidethat Slot “pushed to keep” Diaz despite the big transfer fee but was ‘overruled’ by sporting director Richard Hughes.

‘I can reveal that my inside sources tell me that Slot didn’t want Diaz to leave, with the Reds boss actually also pushing for the Colombia international to be given a new contract.

‘My understanding is that Hughes overruled Slot as he didn’t see the value in giving Diaz a lucrative new deal, while the transfer fee Bayern were offering was seen as “appealing”.

‘Slot saw Diaz as a key player and pushed to keep him, but Hughes had the final say and made the controversial call to rubber-stamp his sale to Bayern.’