Alan Hansen's family release statement as Liverpool legend is discharged from hospital following illness

Liverpool great and football pundit Alan Hansen has been discharged from hospital to continue his recovery following illness, according to a statement released by his family.

Hansen, who is a former Reds captain, was hospitalised earlier this month with his former club confirming on June 9 that he was "seriously ill". However, the Hansen family have released a statement, stating:

"Alan has been discharged from hospital today to continue his recovery at home. Alan, Janet, Adam, Lucy and family would like to thank everybody for their wonderful messages of love and support. It has been overwhelming and has helped enormously. We also hugely appreciate the ongoing respect that has been shown for our privacy as Alan continues his recovery. Thank you."

During his time at Liverpool between 1977 and 1991, Hansen lifted a whopping 24 trophies, including eight top-flight titles and three European Cups. He represented the Reds 620 times, netting a total of 14 goals.

After hanging up his boots in 1991, Hansen plied his trade as a pundit and worked on BBC's Match of the Day show from 1992 until 2014.

Liverpool boss opines on pre-season plans

Speaking to club media, newly appointed Liverpool head coach Arne Slot provided insight on how he will approach the upcoming pre-season. The 45-year-old opined:

"In pre-season, it's all about getting players fit and getting your game idea, your game model, into the players. We have quite a lot of training time with a few of them; and it depends how far players will go into the tournaments [Euro 2024 and Copa America] they are playing, how much time we have to work with these players."

Slot, who spent three years at Eredivisie outfit Feyenoord, concluded:

"But like you already mentioned, the [team's] playing style will not be completely different. But it would be strange if we would do exactly similar things, because although I'm the replacement of Jurgen Klopp, I'm not exactly similar to him. So we'll try with the players who come in at the beginning, which is quite a lot of them already, to implement our idea of football as soon as we can."

Slot, who is an ex-PEC Zwolle and NAC Breda midfielder, enjoyed brilliant success at Feyenoord. He helped the Dutch outfit lift the Eredivisie title in 2023 and win the KNVB Beker trophy in the 2023-24 campaign.

The Liverpool head coach guided Feyenoord to 97 victories and 24 defeats in 148 matches across all competitions, bagging 346 goals.