Liverpool: ‘Surprise name’ emerges to replace Klopp after Amorim demands three signings
Liverpool are considering former Bayern Munich and Monaco boss Niko Kovac as a potential successor for Jurgen Klopp, according to reports.
The Reds are on the lookout for a new manager after Klopp announced that he will be stepping down at the end of the season to take a break from football.
Is Ruben Amorim still in the frame for the Liverpool job?
That initially led to rumours Xabi Alonso would return to Anfield as manager, until the current Bayer Leverkusen boss ruled out leaving the Bundesliga champions.
News that Alonso would be staying in Germany saw Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim become favourite for the job with claims he had struck a ‘verbal agreement’ with Liverpool.
However, the Sporting Lisbon boss denied those rumours last week in a pre-match press conference, insisting that there had been “no interview, let alone an agreement”,
Amorim said: “This is the last time I’m going to talk about my future. There’s been no interview, let alone an agreement. The only thing we all want is to be champions with Sporting, and nothing will change.
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“I’m Sporting’s coach. There’s been no interview with any club, no agreement with any club. I’m just focussed, as always, on defending my club. As I no longer have anything to say, there will be no interviews or agreements with the Sporting coach. That subject is completely settled, whether for this club or another.”
Speaking after his side’s 4-0 win over Gil Vicente on Friday, Amorim hinted that he could snub interest from Liverpool or any other club as he doesn’t feel like he’s finished his “cycle” at Sporting.
“A cycle has not yet ended and that depends on the characteristics of each one and on each other’s lives,” Amorim told Record.
“I think all coaches have their own timing and it has nothing to do with [interest] of clubs, but how the coaches feel. I’m speaking generally and not about my situation.
“I don’t feel like I’ve finished a cycle, I feel like I want to keep going so this isn’t over yet, we want to win and keep moving forward.”
And Liverpool could have to think about other candidates for the job with the Daily Mail claiming that former Bayern Munich boss Kovac is ’emerging as a surprise name under consideration’.
The Reds are yet ‘to begin formal negotiations with contenders as they look to replace Jurgen Klopp in the summer but are conducting a robust research process as they collect information and data on their preferred candidates’.
Kovac left Wolfsburg earlier this season and his agents ‘are understood to have sounded out Premier League clubs ahead of potential managerial changes this summer’.
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Amorim has conditions to join Liverpool
And Spanish publication Nacional are claiming that Amorim is asking for ‘three key signings’ to join Liverpool this summer with Klopp’s potential replacement keen to get what he wants.
Amorim wants to bring Marcus Edwards and Goncalo Inacio with him from Sporting Lisbon, while he is also keen on bringing in Alejandro Grimaldo from Bayer Leverkusen.
More: Liverpool | Jurgen Klopp’s replacement
