Liverpool looks set to sail through the January transfer window without completing any incoming business. But it was far from a quiet winter break.
That’s because Jürgen Klopp dropped the bombshell that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season. He would ‘ideally’ have delayed an announcement until then, but wanted to be the one to break the news, and needed to give his departing assistants the flexibility to explore their options without risking the secret.
The gossip columns are now filled with managers rather than players. There is no looming deadline for this piece of recruitment, and FSG will be keen to get it spot on — although too much of a delay could breed uncertainty, with Virgil van Dijk already sparking a minor panic with remarks about his contract.
The club may first want to get a sporting director in place, with Jörg Schmadtke’s departure imminent. But that hasn’t stopped managerial names emerging, with Xabi Alonso featuring particularly prominently.
Meanwhile, speculation continues about what comes next for Klopp. Here is the Liverpool.com verdict on the manager gossip to emerge around the Reds today.
Xabi Alonso ‘would say yes’ to Liverpool
Xabi Alonso ‘would say yes’ to his former club if approached to take over from Klopp as manager. That’s the opinion of a former Anfield great, who knows the Spaniard and is therefore in a decent position to be able to say.
Writing for the ECHO, John Aldridge said that he believed Alonso would accept an offer from Liverpool ‘100 per cent’. He has played down any concerns about a lack of experience, pointing to how Kenny Dalglish fared in what was his first managerial role.
Alonso has accumulated far more experience than that, impressing with Real Sociedad B before embarking on his current Bayer Leverkusen stint. He is doing an incredible job, and is currently leading the Bundesliga ahead of Bayern Munich
Jürgen Klopp sabbatical pledge faces test
Klopp was clear when he announced his intention to leave Liverpool. He was not leaving for another job, and in fact it would be ‘impossible’ for him to take up another role within the next year.
He intends to take a sabbatical, at the very least, having declared himself tired after almost nine years at Liverpool. But Barcelona is confident of getting him to break that promise, with Sport claiming the club is ‘convinced’ that a deal is feasible if it goes ‘all-out’.
Barcelona is set to take two or three weeks to decide what it wants to do, as it digests Xavi’s decision to step down in the summer as well. But pursuing Klopp is very much an option on the table.
