FSG’s manager search is underway after the shock announcement that Jurgen Klopp will depart Liverpool at the end of the season.
Reds chiefs have been given the unenviable task of replacing the most successful manager in modern Liverpool history as they assess the candidates for the role.
Paul Gorst: Roberto de Zerbi is the charismatic, forward-thinking Italian coach who inspired Brighton and their easy-on-the-eye style to their highest-ever Premier League finish of sixth last term.
And barely a year into his time with Brighton & Hove Albion and the Seagulls are eagerly anticipating a last-16 tie of the Europa League in what is their first season in European football.
De Zerbi has also been hamstrung by the fact the club have had to sell their two best midfielders in Moises Caicedo and Liverpool’s current No.10, Alexis Mac Allister, but he has still managed to keep the team pushing for a repeat performance in the Premier League, with the south-coast side seventh in the table, above Manchester United, Newcastle and Chelsea.
De Zerbi has no doubt been aided by the slick operation at the Amex Stadium and the stability that exists because of it, but Liverpool are run with the same of sort of professionalism that can only help a manager.
Replacing Jurgen Klopp is the impossible job and whoever walks in next has their work cut out. De Zerbi, though, has shown his time in English football that he certainly has pedigree worthy of a closer look.
Ian Doyle: Jurgen Klopp isn’t the first successful, hugely popular Liverpool manager to leave the club. In fact, from Bill Shankly’s appointment in 1959 to Kenny Dalglish’s resignation in 1991, the Reds consistently got it right when handing over the reins.
This time, though, is a bit different. The game has changed immeasurably since those days, with Liverpool becoming both a football and commercial behemoth. Keeping that train running is no easy task.
Matching Klopp’s charisma will be impossible. Nobody has that. But a little character can go a long way, especially if the person in question understands what it means to work for Liverpool.
The obvious choice, then, is Xabi Alonso, who earned his coaching stripes with Real Madrid’s youth team and Real Sociedad B before his ongoing stint at Bayer Leverkusen, who are sweeping all before them this season and look set to end Bayern Munich’s 11-year stint as Bundesliga champions.
Not only the obvious choice, Alonso is also the only choice. And having also been a player with Bayern and Real Madrid, he understands the unique pressures of operating for one of the world’s biggest clubs.
Joe Rimmer: When Brendan Rodgers departed Liverpool in 2015 there were two clear frontrunners for the job.
Serial winner Carlo Ancelotti, who had left Real Madrid for the first time having won the his third Champions League title, along with the Copa Del Rey, in 2014.
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