Highlights
- Liverpool are monitoring Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi as a potential replacement to outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp.
- Xabi Alonso is the club’s ‘top target’ but De Zerbi is now being looked at as a possible option.
- Liverpool are considering other candidates too, including Sporting’s Ruben Amorim and Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann.
Liverpool are monitoring Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi as a potential replacement for Jurgen Klopp, according to Jacob Steinberg and The Guardian. The Reds have been impressed with the Italian’s work on the South Coast, and have added him to their shortlist of potential successors to Klopp.
The current Liverpool manager confirmed that he would be leaving Anfield earlier this year, bringing an end to his nine-year spell in Merseyside. Having joined in 2015, he has gone on to turn them into one of the best teams in the world, guiding the Reds to a Champions League and a first Premier League title.
Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Klopp after his sensational impact at the Bundesliga club. They are currently eight points clear ahead of Bayern Munich, but the Spaniard is not certain to take over the reins at Anfield, especially with interest from Bayern Munich.
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Liverpool target De Zerbi
The Italian has enjoyed a successful time at Brighton
Should they fail to land Alonso, then Liverpool have targeted Brighton’s De Zerbi as a potential alternative, per reports. The Italian took over at Brighton when Graham Potter left to join fellow Premier League side Chelsea in 2022.
De Zerbi is highly regarded for his style of play and free-flowing football, with him helping the Seagulls achieve European football for the first time in the club’s history. He has previously managed the likes of Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk, and is even a target for Manchester United, but the Red Devils are adamant they will give Erik ten Hag time.
Brighton have been a joy to watch over the last year, and their current manager even established the side as one of the most feared clubs in the league. His biggest success as a coach so far came in 2021 when he won the Ukrainian Super Cup with Donetsk. During his time at Sassuolo, the club were arguably a mid-table club, but during De Zerbi’s reign, he guided the club to eighth place two seasons in a row and missed out on European football in the 2020/21 season on goal difference.
Back in January, football journalist Fabrizio Romano admitted De Zerbi was being discussed internally by Liverpool, with the view to a potential approach further down the line. It’s suggested the Anfield hierarchy are fond of the 44-year-old, who has taken to life in England without any qualms at all.
De Zerbi is most likely Xabi Alonso alternative for Liverpool
Liverpool are searching for a replacement for Jurgen Klopp ahead of the summer, and Roberto De Zerbi could be one of their top targets.
Speaking on Klopp’s successor, Romano revealed exclusively to GIVEMESPORT: “Roberto De Zerbi is another manager they have discussed internally as one of the options. So this name for sure will be on the shortlist.
“Let’s see who else is going to be on this list. Let’s see what the new director will decide in terms of who is the best manager for the new project after Jurgen Klopp.
“It’s never easy to come into a club like Liverpool and make an impact at the same level of Jurgen Klopp. They will speak internally, they will have a new director and then they will decide who is going to be the new coach.”
Liverpool’s other candidates
Ruben Amorim and Julian Nagelsmann have been identified
The Premier League side are prepared to go head-to-head with Bayern Munich in the battle to appoint Alonso as their next manager, with him identified as a ‘top target’ by both clubs. It is understood that the German side are so desperate to beat the Reds to Alonso’s services that they are prepared to make him the highest-paid manager in Bundesliga history by handing him a £20million-a-year pay package.
As well as Alonso and De Zerbi, both Sporting Lisbon chief Ruben Amorim and Germany head coach Julien Nagelsmann are also on Liverpool’s shortlist, according to the Telegraph. Amorim is planning to hold discussions with interested parties at the end of the season, when he will make a final decision over the next move in his managerial career, while Nagelsmann is currently preparing to lead his beloved Germany at Euro 2024. The 36-year-old has spent the majority of his coaching career working within club football, and might be enticed back into it by the Reds if they come calling.
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