Liverpool are still deliberating which manager should follow Jurgen Klopp next season.
There’s no question that whoever comes in after Klopp is going to have enormous boots to fill. But somebody’s going to have to do it.
So far, the favourite to follow the German looks to be Sporting manager Ruben Amorim. Although insiders at Liverpool are reportedly denying that Amorim is the front-runner, there’s certainly a strong case to be made for the 39-year-old.
He isn’t the only potential new manager out there, though. Last week the Reds were said to be working from a five-man shortlist and a couple of the names on there would surely be well received appointments.
Indeed, one such option has now been championed by ESPN pundit Janusz Michalik.
Liverpool told to try for Julian Nagelsmann
As well as Amorim, the four other names said to be on Liverpool’s most recent shortlist are as follows: Julian Nagelsmann, Roberto De Zerbi, Thiago Motta and Simone Inzaghi.
Different people will have different opinions on who – if any – of those should be in the running besides Amorim.
Nagelsmann is one who will possibly split opinion. Just recently, Liverpool legend Steve Nicol claimed that the 36-year-old would ‘worry’ him if he took over at Anfield.
However, Nagelsmann has his supporters, too. One of them is Michalik, who has claimed that Liverpool shouldn’t let Bayern Munich have a free run at hiring the manager who won them the Bundesliga title in 2022.
“What do we know about Amorim other than what we see out there, right? It’s very difficult,” said the former USA international. “De Zerbi is a possibility, I don’t think Bayern Munich are going to go for De Zerbi, they want Nagelsman. We’ll see what happens for him. If I were Liverpool I’d be going about Nagelsmann as well.
“The bottom line is coaches like this will always have choices. So many big clubs are looking for managers.”
Should Liverpool hire Julian Nagelsmann
Had Klopp have announced his decision to leave back in 2021, you’d imagine that the calls for Nagelsmann to take his place would have been louder.
Back then, the German wonderkid coach was still yet to leave RB Leipzig for Bayern. It would have been good timing for him to join Liverpool.
But having moved to his country’s biggest club and not really set the place alight, Nagelsmann’s stock has gone down.
Nevertheless, the fact that Bayern want him back suggests that Nagelsmann didn’t do such a bad job there after all. He’s clearly and excellent coach, he’s young and will be available after Euro 2024. We’d still prefer Amorim, or maybe Motta. But Nagelsmann shouldn’t be far behind.