The managerial merry-go-round will soon start to turn apace, and for Liverpool, if they don’t want to miss out on another target, they’ll need to move quickly.
Jurgen Klopp will leave at the end of the season, and it was thought that Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso, a former Reds player of course, would be the perfect replacement.
That idea was scuppered once the Spaniard announced that he would be staying in Germany for at least the 2024/25 season.
Barcelona favourites for Ruben Amorim
With Xavi Hernandez leaving Barcelona and Thomas Tuchel also heading out of Bayern Munich, there’s a clear need for managers of a high standard, and that would appear to be why Ruben Amorim is much in demand.
The Portuguese, currently in charge at Sporting, emerged as a favourite for the Anfield hot-seat once Alonso ruled himself out, but as The Independent (subscription required) report, Barcelona were already thought to be well down the road in bringing Amorim to Catalonia.
It’s believed that his release clause has proved problematic for the Blaugranes, hence why a deal hasn’t been signed off by Deco and Joan Laporta at this stage.
What that news does do of course is give Liverpool a kick up the backside if they don’t want to lose out on the 39-year-old.
With all of the leagues coming into the business end of the current campaign, it’s a wonder that any sort of negotiations can be conducted, however, such is the urgency for these top European clubs, that there needs to be some sort of knowledge as to what happens next soonest.
They can’t allow themselves to wait until the end of the season before they register any interest.
From Amorim’s own point of view, there’s been no comment to this point, so the expected bun fight to come will undoubtedly be of huge interest.