Liverpool expert reveals stance on claims players have chosen preferred Jurgen Klopp replacement
Liverpool expert Neil Jones has revealed whether he thinks the squad have picked out their preferred replacement for Jurgen Klopp.
The German head coach announced towards the end of January that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season.
Klopp’s assistant to step up?
Klopp‘s current contract is not due to expire until 2026 but he is leaving early as he requires a break and will take a sabbatical from management heading into the summer.
Current Bayer Leverkusen head coach Xabi Alonso is currently the overwhelming favourite to replace Klopp as he is currently working wonders in the Bundesliga, but Bayern Munich are also interested in the Spaniard.
Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester United but they remain in contention for the Premier League and Europa League after they lifted the Carabao Cup earlier this season.
Klopp has done a remarkable job at Anfield and he’s been helped by assistant boss Pep Lijnders, who returned to Liverpool for a second spell in 2018 after previously being the head coach of Dutch outfit NEC Nijmegen.
Lijnders will look for a management job heading into this season but Alan Brazil and Dean Saunders have claimed that Liverpool’s players want him to stick around.
“I am told the players wouldn’t mind the number two, Pep [Lijnders] taking over,” Brazil said on talkSPORT.
READ MORE: New Liverpool director Richard Hughes’ greatest transfer decisions include Mings and Ramsdale sales
Former Liverpool forward Dean Saunders replied: “I heard that as well. At least he [Lijnders] knows what’s going on there. It’s difficult, who do you give the job to? That club is that big.”
“Take that with a hefty pinch of salt”
Jones confirms Lijnders is “looking to re-start his career as a head coach” but these comments must be taken with a “hefty pinch of salt”.
“There has again been some talk of Pep Lijnders being an option to replace Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager, but I would take that talk with a hefty pinch of salt,” Jones told Caught Offside.
“I don’t think there’s any chance Lijnders will get the top job at this stage, and nor should he either.
“If we are questioning the experience of Xabi Alonso, Ruben Amorim or Roberto De Zerbi, then we have to do the same with Lijnders, whose senior managerial career amounts to a few months at NEC Nijmegen.
“There’s no question that he is a big figure, day-to-day, at Liverpool, and his coaching credentials are excellent, but I think even he would accept that if he is looking to re-start his career as a head coach, he needs to go and prove himself elsewhere before stepping into the big job on Merseyside.
“I expect to see him in the dugout somewhere next season, just not at Anfield.”
