Robbie Fowler believes that Aston Villa boss Unai Emery could be a serious contender to succeed Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
Unai Emery has been so impressive at Aston Villa that he should be considered as an heir to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
That is the view of former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, who has been raving about Emery.
The Spaniard left Villarreal to become Villa boss in November 2022, replacing Steven Gerrard in the Villa Park dugout.
Emery has been a roaring success, winning 26 of his 43 games in charge to boast a 60% win rate.
Villa have dreams of pushing for the top four this season and Emery has now dropped just two points in the last six games.
Robbie Fowler backs Unai Emery for Liverpool
Emery has now been so good at Villa that Robbie Fowler believes that he could become Liverpool boss.
Fowler told The Mirror (29/10, p69) that he thinks Emery is now ‘one of the few’ managers around who could replace Klopp.
The German surely isn’t leaving Liverpool any time soon but Fowler thinks that Emery should be in contention when the day comes.
Fowler noted that he has been a keen admirer of Emery for years now and believes he suffered a complete lack of respect at Arsenal.
Now thriving at Villa, Fowler believes that Emery has shown great resilience by having another crack at Premier League management.
“The biggest compliment I can pay Unai Emery is that I think he is one of the few managers who would be up to the challenge of replacing Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool,” said Fowler. “Now before Mr Mrs Outraged of Villa Park and Anfield get too hot under the collar, I’m not suggesting the Spaniard would walk out of the challenge he’s currently got on his hands in the Midlands and set his SatNav for Merseyside – or that Klopp might be on his way out.”
“But I was already a big admirer of Emery when Arsenal asked him to succeed Arsene Wenger. It didn’t go as I expected at the Emirates and I still believe a lot of that was down to a lack of basic respect shown to Emery because he didn’t arrive with the same command of the English language as a member of the Royal Family.”
“He is now showing with Villa that football really is universal. Certainly Emery’s players appear to be on-message and it’s great to see at one of English football’s most famous old clubs. What I like about Unai is that he refused to be put off by his previous bitter experience of the Premier League when Villa came calling. Talent will always come to the fore and Villa are reaping the rewards of not allowing prejudices to cloud their judgement,” he added.
Liverpool may need to have a succession plan in mind
Many thought that Gerrard would become Liverpool boss down the line but that now looks very, very unlikely.
It’s somewhat ironic that his Villa replacement Emery is now being backed for the Liverpool job but others will be in mind.
Klopp seems very happy at Anfield but the Germany job may be available next summer and, realistically, he isn’t going to stay forever.
Emery may well make himself impossible to ignore but Klopp’s assistant Pepijn Lijnders will surely be a contender.
Roberto De Zerbi’s work at Brighton and Hove Albion will put him in contention whilst Julian Nagelsmann is another shout once his work with Germany ends.
Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso is impressing with Bayer Leverkusen and will surely be in the mix – if Real Madrid don’t get him first.
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