WHO WILL BE NEXT LIVERPOOL MANAGER? AMORIM OVERTAKEN BY THE NEW ‘LEADING CANDIDATE’
You might not have heard, but Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool. The German is on his way in the summer after a half-season farewell tour.
So, who next? Replacing Klopp felt like the perfect job for one man but it seems he doesn’t fancy it yet. Then the favourite after him became an ‘unlikely’ appointment. Now, there’s a new ‘leading candidate’.
Here, according to Oddschecker, are the 10 favourites to become Liverpool’s next manager…
10) Thiago Motta
Apparently all you need to become fourth favourite to manage one of the biggest clubs in Europe is for a journalist to claim you “could be an alternative option” for the position and to get your agent to say it’s an “interesting” opportunity.
Not that we’re downplaying Motta’s ability as a coach. Having been sacked after just ten games as Genoa boss in 2019 he earned plaudits for keeping Spezia Calcio in Serie A in 2021-22 before building something pretty special at Bologna, who are punching well above their weight.
Motta led them to ninth in Serie A last term – their highest finish in over two decades – and fourth thus far this season, with Champions League qualification a distinct possibility for the first time in the club’s history.
9) Paulo Fonseca
Feels like all these manager contenders features are obliged to have at least two people in them who “Came close to the Spurs job as they sought a replacement for Jose Mourinho/Antonio Conte” and the current Lille boss is quite literally one of those managers. Style of play would appear to fit the Liverpool bill, but would he be a significantly weighty name to get the fans onside?UNIQUE TO F365: Mediawatch | Mailbox | Winners & Losers | Bespoke PL tables
8) Xavi Hernandez
Well that’s not happening now, is it? In the most telegraphed U-turn since Wolf of Wall Street, Xavi is staying with Barcelona after all.
7) Thomas Tuchel
Tuchel has followed Klopp’s path as far as managing both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, among numerous other clubs. Anfield next?
We know he will be free at the end of the season after him and Bayern Munich decided to part ways, with the German behemoth and Champions League semi-finalists losing their Bundesliga crown to Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
Tuchel has said recently that he feels more appreciated in England after guiding Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2021. But though there are parallels in their career paths, Tuchel and Klopp’s personalities are markedly different. The former might struggle to fill the charisma void left by Klopp and FSG could find him rather less collaborative. Since stepping up to big-club management at Dortmund, he hasn’t managed to more than two-and-a-half years anywhere.
Maybe an anti-Klopp is what Liverpool need, but Tuchel just doesn’t seem like a good fit. Although he has far more of a big-club CV than those he now finds himself among…
6) Thomas Frank
Difficult not to think he would get eaten alive at Liverpool but his Moneyball success at Brentford may well appeal to the Reds owners, if not the fans. But somebody has to be the man who follows the man.
5) Jose Mourinho
It would be funny as f***. And not that unlikely if they decide to go for an interim appointment.
4) Pep Lijnders
Who better than the author of a self-described “counter-pressing bible” to replace the man he has worked alongside for five remarkable years? Releasing a 400-plus page book entitled ‘Intensity’ at the precise point Liverpool appeared to have lost theirs last season was not lost on the fans, but the suspicion lingers that if Klopp were to personally choose his successor – which he won’t – it might be his right-hand man. Kontinuity Klopp, if you will.
Lijnders certainly knows the structure and current philosophy; it would be something of a return to the Boot Room and probably Mean More than any other managerial appointment in history. It almost doesn’t matter that his only previous experience in senior management was the five months he spent in charge of NEC in the Dutch second division almost five years ago, although it does matter a bit.
Lijnders’ role as assistant will end when Klopp walks away so that his right-hand man can pursue his own managerial ambitions. Straight into the Reds’ hot-seat? Unlikely, but if they do find themselves going down the stop-gap road while waiting for the right man a year from now, then it’s not without its appeal.
3) Roberto De Zerbi
The Brighton boss has worked wonders at the AmEx, creating history seemingly on a bi-monthly basis since he was appointed in September 2022 to replace Graham Potter.
De Zerbi’s style of play would certainly entertain the Kop, which was privy to the Italian’s first game in charge of Brighton: a mental 3-3 draw in October 2022. Since then, he took Brighton into Europe for the first time, an achievement he described as ‘more prestigious than winning the title’ with a top-six club.
It feels like only a matter of time before De Zerbi gets to find out for himself. The 44-year-old has been linked with Manchester United and City. The United job could be up for grabs at the same time as Liverpool’s. But the uncomfortable truth is that Brighton have been in rotten form.
2) Ruben Amorim
The highly-rated young Sporting coach, famed for his attacking and enterprising 3-4-3 formation was an early mover in the list of potential contenders with reports placing him on the all-important ‘Liverpool shortlist’. Has been linked a bit with Manchester United this season and his name was always there or thereabouts for Chelsea and Spurs before they settled elsewhere.
When Alonso dropped out of the race it seemed Amorim to Liverpool was a certainty. But that is now ‘unlikely’ with an ambitious West Ham sniffing around.
1) Arne Slot
That brought no shame and The Times‘ Paul Joyce has revealed that he ‘minded to take the next step in his coaching career even if his contract does not expire until 2026’ and he’s emerged as the new ‘leading candidate’ to replace Klopp. He’s no Alonso but as alternatives go, he’s pretty solid and enormously bald.
2024-01-26T13:23:35Z dg43tfdfdgfd