Liverpool are looking to bounce back from the news that Xabi Alonso will not be their manager next season.
Alonso had been seen as the most likely candidate to take over once Jurgen Klopp leaves the Reds this summer. However, the Spanish coach has decided to stay at Bayer Leverkusen instead.
As a result, Liverpool are now looking at other options. They were anyway of course, but Alonso had been seen as the outstanding choice. Now that he’s off the table, it feels a bit more of an open race.
Along with Alonso, journalist David Ornstein has today virtually ruled out one other manager taking over at Anfield. But there are still a number of names in play.
One of them has been Ruben Amorim. But another Tuesday update – this time from The Independent – has also thrown the Sporting manager’s arrival at Liverpool into doubt.
Liverpool looking at long list options
The Independent claim that Amorim is actually top of the list as Barcelona’s replacement for Xavi this summer.
The Catalan giants had reportedly been relatively serene in their chase to land the 39-year-old, knowing that clubs such as Liverpool and Bayern Munich were focused on Alonso.
But with the Leverkusen coach staying where he is, Barca are now said to be aware that Amorim is a major target for Liverpool in particular.
The Reds, it’s claimed, had ‘long since’ seen the Sporting man as their second-choice to Alonso. However, with Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards coming in last month, Liverpool have reportedly ‘changed their thinking.’ They’re now willing to be more flexible in their requirements.
This is said to have led them to drawing up a slightly extended shortlist of coaches. Both Roberto De Zerbi and Simone Inzaghi are claimed to be on that longer list.
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Simone Inzaghi makes Liverpool long list
It would make a lot of sense for Inzaghi to feature on Liverpool’s list to replace Klopp. The 47-year-old has been one of the best coaches in Europe for the last couple of years.
Having coached Inter Milan to the Champions League final last season, he’s all set to win them the Serie A title this time around. Inzaghi’s quality was recently praised by Thierry Henry, who told CBS Sports that the Italian was ‘defying logic’ at Inter.
“Yes, I am (fond of Inzaghi’s system). They quite often say that strikers cannot be good managers. Well, it defies the logic at the moment because the way he is setting up his team is second to none,” Henry gushed.
Impressing some of the finest players of his own generation, Inzaghi is obviously a manager with a growing reputation. Let’s see if he’s still in the running as Liverpool’s list gets whittled down.