Klopp linked to Liverpool job
LIVERPOOL boss Brendan Rodgers, who was forced to admit that he could lose his job after Liverpool’s dire end to the season, could be ousted in favour of Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp.
The German manager “has turned up the heat” on Rodgers by “telling friends he would be interested in managing Liverpool”, the Metro newspaper in the UK reported.
Klopp will leave Dortmund after seven years in charge this weekend, following his side’s German Cup final against Wolfsburg.
For Rodgers the season is already over, and it ended with a 6-1 capitulation to Stoke in what was Liverpool’s worst perfor- mance in a league match for decades. That result, after a season of underachievement, left Rodgers in as vulnerable a position as he has been since taking over in 2012. His side has failed to gel despite the arrival of £100-million in new talent this season, while Steven Gerrard has left the club and Raheem Sterling has turned down a new contract.
When Klopp announced that he was leaving Borussia Dortmund earlier in the season, it was believed he would take a break from football. But the Sun reports that he has “scrapped plans to take six months off” and is now interested in taking over at Anfield.
“The news puts serious pressure on Rodgers and will also give Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group food for thought,” adds the paper. Rodgers is due to meet Liverpool’s owners this week and must convince them he is still the man to lead the club.
“Rodgers was expected to survive,” says the Sun. “But that was before Klopp entered the frame.”
Liverpool fans have had their say and appear to want a new hand on the tiller. An online poll on the Daily Mirror website found that 88% of them would like to see Klopp, previously linked with Arsenal and Bayern Munich. —