Liverpool in talks with Arne Slot

Several reports from today, including one from Fabrizio Romano on social media site X, have suggested that Liverpool have opened discussions with Arne Slot.

The Feyenoord boss is rapidly becoming the leading contender to become Liverpool’s new manager and replace Jurgen Klopp at the end of this season.

This news comes after it was revealed that Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim took a meeting with West Ham United on Monday afternoon, just a week or so after denying he had any interest in taking charge at Anfield.

The plan for Klopp’s successor has been unknown ever since he announced his impending departure in late-January with Xabi Alonso expected to stay at Bayer Leverkusen for at least one season.

It has also been reported that the Reds have held discussions with Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O’Neil and also hold an interest in Brentford manager Thomas Frank.

Bergentheim-born 45-year-old Slot, who played for the likes of FC Zwolle, NAC Breda, Sparta Rotterdam and PEC Zwolle during his career, began managing in the 2019/20 campaign at AZ Alkmaar.

In 18 months with AZ, he took over a team that had finished fourth the year before in the Eredivisie and been knocked out in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. He led them to second in the league and the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League. The Eredivisie finished early due to COVID-19 and AZ were only below Ajax on goal difference at the time. AZ were then unbeaten in their opening nine matches of the 2020/21 campaign before Slot departed.

He took charge of Feyenoord in the summer of 2021, finishing third in the Dutch top-flight in his first season but also guiding the Rotterdam club to the final of the UEFA Europa Conference League where they eventually lost by a goal to nil to Roma in Tirana. In his second season, Feyenoord reached the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup and quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League but also won their first Dutch league title since 2017. 

This season, Feyenoord have won the KNVB Cup but endured a difficult European campaign, eventually being knocked out in the knockout playoffs of the UEFA Europa League. They sit second in the Eredivisie behind a historically impressive PSV Eindhoven side.