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With the recent news from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp about his departure from the club after a successful 9-year tenure, much of the news has been dedicated to who will be replacing the beloved manager to start the 2024/25 season.
While there is no shortage of managers available for such a massive club as Liverpool, many fans are concerned about finding the perfect fit in the dugout for the foreseeable future.
Before Klopp, who seemed to be born for the job, Liverpool had been in turmoil for some years and fans will be eager to remain out of this trend after he has left making this next appointment one of the most important decisions in the club’s recent history.
In this blog post, we are going to be discussing some of the most discussed candidates for the Liverpool job after Jurgen Klopp’s departure and will delve into how some of these managers may set up this great squad of players.
Perhaps one of the more unlikely candidates on this list, it would still be an incredible appointment given his vast success at Real Madrid in the late 2010s. Since leaving Madrid, Zidane has remained out of football maintaining his incredibly high stature as a manager.
Since his time away, Zidane has been quoted as saying he feels “refreshed” and this coinciding with the Liverpool job may just mean that his next destination is Merseyside.
The word “aura” is used a lot when discussing Zidane’s unique managing style and the way he holds himself on the touchline and it is easy to see why. His presence surely can be felt by everyone on the pitch and has a unique effect on his team.
The former Bayern coach is regarded as one of the most unfair sackings in recent memory as he had managed to maintain a perfect record in the Champions League and was winning Bundesliga titles like any other manager before him.
While currently the manager of the German national team, his contract will expire after the European Championships in the summer meaning he may be available for the Liverpool job afterwards.
While there could be some speculation about hiring such a young manager for one of the biggest teams in the world in one of the most difficult leagues in the world, he is no doubt one of the most in-demand people across the entirety of the sport.
Currently doing exceptionally well with Aston Villa in the Premier League, Liverpool may look to swipe Emery from under the nose of the midlands club to acquire his expertise for themselves.
While his time at Arsenal may be in the back of everyone’s minds when going to such a massive English club for a second time, the portfolio that Emery has created now surely is something impressive to marvel at.
Much like Klopp, Emery is famous for deploying a high defensive line alongside an aggressive pressing system with the ability to transition into a mid-block depending on the way the game is being played and who the opponent is.
This makes Emery seem like a perfect fit to take over this crop of players from Jurgen Klopp providing them with a similar style of play that they are used to. This could eliminate one of the major transitional issues with managers being a switch in style of play.
Who better to replace Jurgen Klopp than his very own understudy and the proclaimed author of the “counter-pressing bible”, Pep Ljinders? Being familiar with the inner workings of the club will benefit Ljinders in transitioning into a managerial role which he has stated he is interested in doing.
This seeming fairytale may have doubt cast upon it since Ljinders himself has stated he will be leaving the club alongside Klopp and several other backroom staff. However, this does not mean that Ljinders will not be approached to take the role during the latter stages of the season.
Tactically, it would be safe to assume that the style of play would remain largely the same as Klopp’s famous “heavy metal football”, high pressing, high octane, high energy from the first whistle to the last. There would undoubtedly be some changes to the system, but we would expect much of the same.
Roberto De Zerbi is one of the most sought-after managers in the world after the incredible job he has done at Brighton in the last 18 months, being tipped as one of the top contenders to replace Xavi at Barcelona and Klopp at Liverpool.
One thing about De Zerbi is for sure, his style of play is some of the best and most entertaining in the sport with the Anfield faithful feeling the full wrath in his first Brighton game in charge in a 3-3 draw with the Merseyside giants.
He is certainly in high demand as both Manchester clubs have made their interests public with Manchester City seeking his services as a direct replacement for Pep Guardiola when he departs the club in the coming years.
Who else? It has to be Xabi Alonso who is the best person to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool. The former Liverpool midfielder currently sits top of the Bundesliga table with Bayern seeming to slip away more as the weeks go by. Perhaps the perfect fit for the job, Xabi has been coached by some of the best managers the world has ever seen from the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho to Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez.
Taking pieces of information from all of these managers has crafted a unique blend of passing and pressing as the main forms of both offensive and defensive tactics. Alonso is known to deploy a 3 centre-back formation in the 3-4-3 with the wing backs playing a major role in the attack.
For Leverkusen, Alex Grimaldo has been utilised as a wide playmaker, spraying passes all over the pitch from the left-hand side. This role seems like it could be perfect for a certain Trent Alexander Arnold on the other side, who would be allowed much more attacking control and less defensive responsibility in this system due to the added central defender.
This shows that Liverpool already has all of the pieces to make Xabi Alonso’s chosen style of play work perfectly in their personnel, and his understanding of Anfield and the city as a whole will surely make him a favourite in the eyes of the Liverpool FC fanbase.