- EXCLUSIVE from Graeme Bailey
Liverpool are preparing for life without Jurgen Klopp and the club’s hierarchy have already been doing work on who could succeed him at Anfield, HITC Football understands.
HITC Football can exclusively reveal that Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso and Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi are two names who have been mentioned – with the former Liverpool midfielder their preferred option.
Jurgen Klopp dropped a seismic bombshell on the footballing world when he announced he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season.
The Reds are right back in the title race this season and look to be stronger than ever with the midfield recruitments they made in the summer already bearing fruit.
So this news has come as a bit of a surprise with the German entering his ninth year in charge of the Anfield club and this will turn out to be his last.
Liverpool replacements
Sources have told HITC that the Reds were aware that Klopp was considering his future at Anfield but thought he might have made a decision around stepping down in 2025, but it has now been brought forward a year.
With there still being four months before the season is over, the Reds will have plenty of time before deciding on a successor for the 56-year-old German.
As a result, the club have already been doing their due diligence on replacements have been sought and the highly rated pairing of Alonso and De Zerbi have been targeted for the mammoth role at Anfield.
Replacing the energetic enigma that is Jurgen Klopp will certainly not be easy as the German has won a Premier League title, the Champions League, an FA Cup and a League Cup.
HITC understands it is Xabi Alonso who is the clear first choice option for the club’s board as it stands.
Alonso and De Zerbi
Alonso is doing a sensational job with Leverkusen as the German side are currently top of the Bundesliga, four points clear of second placed Bayern Munich, and there has already been talk that the Spaniard will be the next big thing.
Having played for the Reds in the mid-2000s before moving to Real Madrid, any move for the 42-year-old would certainly make sense from Liverpool’s perspective.
As for De Zerbi, since being appointed Brighton boss in 2022, the Italian has worked wonders with the South Coast club as Brighton qualified for the Europa League last campaign and are in the knockout stages of the European competition.
The former Shakhtar Donetsk head coach will certainly have a lot of suitors and you wonder if, dependent on Erik ten Hag’s future at Manchester United, there may be a tug-of-war between two of English football’s greatest rivals.
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