Burnley man lifts the lid on 'very weird' reunion with Liverpool boss Arne Slot
Having won a Dutch title playing under Arne Slot, Quilindschy Hartman admits it was a “weird” feeling playing against his former boss for Burnley a few weeks ago.
The Burnley left-back was one of the stars of Slot’s Feyenoord side that won the Eredivisie during the 2022/23 season.
It led to an emotional reunion between the pair last month when Burnley faced Liverpool at Turf Moor, with Hartman and co coming within a few minutes of a hard-earned draw, only for a Mo Salah penalty to spoil their afternoon.
While Hartman was inevitably gutted with the way the game played out, he was still all smiles as he embraced Slot at the final whistle.
"It was very weird to be fair,” the 23-year-old admitted.
"Normally when he's next to me we're in the same team, so that was was a little bit weird.
"But it was also very nice to see him again and also his assistant coach and some other people on his staff, so it was really nice to see them again.”
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Not only was Slot Hartman’s former head coach, he was also the man that handed him his debut at Feyenoord – forging a special bond for life.
“After the game I spoke to him,” he added. “Not really about football, just about my personal life, how I was doing here and how I like the Manchester, because we live quite close to each other.
"It's just nice to see him because obviously he gave me my debut and the player you see now, he basically created, so I’m very thankful that he was my first manager. It's not a bad manager to have as your first one!
"We were champions together and that was a very big thing in Holland. When I think back to my first year as a professional, there were a lot of things going on in my life personally that he knows about and that creates a kind of a bond.
"I think he’s also proud to see me in the Premier League and for me saying to him I'm proud that he's there as well. It’s the same for his assistant coach [Sipke Hulshoff], I’m just proud to see them at Liverpool, it's just cool to see.
“With Arne I could already see in the beginning that he was a special coach, even though it was just my first coach. But I just could see like: ‘okay, this is a different level in terms of communication’, but also his tactics were just crazy.
"It’s just so nice to see him doing good as well as his assistant.”
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