Last summer, FSG started banging a drum that repeated the same beat: Liverpool would not need another sweeping summer of spending for many years, having just completed a record-breaking window after winning the Premier League.
What has followed is hard to explain, nigh on impossible to grasp in its entirety. The Reds have been dispatched from the FA Cup and Champions League in recent weeks, and their hopes of boarding Europe’s elite train at the end of the season hang in the balance after poor form from the get-go.
Even the emphatic run to start the season was performed with the veneer of a winning smile, late goals covering poor performances.
Fifth in the Premier League and many miles adrift from last year’s remarkable standard, something needs to change. FSG have (outwardly) maintained their backing for under-fire Arne Slot throughout this testing period, but FSG are fickle, and a business end without improvement may spell the end for last year’s hero.
FSG already in talks to replace Slot
Slot has taken a lot of criticism from all and sundry this season, and even if Liverpool scrape fourth/fifth place in the Premier League, keeping the faith would be a big risk. Liverpool have not been good enough.
Whichever way you twist it, the fact is that last year’s champions have been a shell of themselves, lacking physicality and confidence and successful technical application.
|
Arne Slot’s Premier League Record with Liverpool |
||
|---|---|---|
|
24/25 |
# |
25/26 |
|
38 |
Matches |
32 |
|
25 |
Wins |
15 |
|
9 |
Draws |
7 |
|
4 |
Losses |
10 |
|
86:41 |
GF/GA |
52:42 |
|
84 |
Points |
52 |
|
2.21 |
PPM |
1.63 |
Sporting director Richard Hughes is set to stay at the club, ending speculation that he would finish his term as Liverpool’s sporting director prematurely amid interest from the Saudi Pro League.
Naturally, the former Bournemouth director will be keen on appointing Andoni Iraola, who is set to leave his post at the Vitality Stadium on a free this summer.
The thought of Iraola is nice – he has been hailed as “one of the best managers in the Premier League” by Fabrizio Romano – but there would be an element of risk about such a hire, the Spaniard young and still untested at the very highest level.
In Julian Nagelsmann, Liverpool could still appoint an innovative coach with much of their career ahead of them while equally replacing Slot with someone proven at the highest level.
According to TEAMtalk, FSG have already entered talks with the Germany manager’s representatives, and he could be convinced to call time on his current job after the World Cup.
Yet to follow up on that interest, Liverpool will be aware that Arsenal and Chelsea are also keen, and that Nagelsmann has a desire to try his hand in the Premier League and lead an elite outfit such as Liverpool.
The fact that it is Nagelsmann’s own representatives initiating the contact highlights his desire to make the switch, while the report outlines that a move to Anfield ‘would be of serious interest’ to the young coach, were Slot to be dismissed.
Why Nagelsmann would be a Slot & Iraola upgrade
Nagelsmann’s resume speaks for itself. Only 38 years old, he has accomplished much in the dugout, winning the Bundesliga and the DFL-Supercup in his one full season with Bayern Munich after dazzling through projects with Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig.
Iraola has Premier League experience on his side, but his Cherries team have lacked consistency at times this season, and though expectations would shift at Liverpool, Nagelsmann is already proven at the top of the game, and he may only rubber-stamp his “world-class” reputation, as has been said by journalist Rory Smith, with a successful World Cup campaign in North America.
Even his dismissal at Bayern Munich raised eyebrows, and is not something that should dissuade Liverpool superiors from making their move.
A highly adaptable and intricate coach, Nagelsmann shares with Slot an eye for the finer details (even if that eye has gone wandering for the Liverpool boss this term). However, he differs in that he is an exponent of Klopp’s brand of football, with the legendary Merseyside manager saying he is a “a big fan of him”.
Nagelsmann plays with a 4-2-3-1 structure, something which could facilitate Florian Wirtz in the ten. Interestingly, Wirtz is already under his countryman’s wing for the national team.
His gegenpressing approach meets an emphasis on possession. In this, he shares some of Slot and Klopp’s managerial qualities, also maintaining an intensity to rival that of Iraola, whose Bournemouth side are as fit and menacing as any team in the top flight.
Nagelsmann is one of the sharpest, most intelligent tactical thinkers in football. He belied his age and inexperience to establish himself with Hoffenheim and then Leipzig. Even at Bayern, his short stint did offer some success, having been hailed the “best young coach in Europe” by journalist Josh Bunting.
Liverpool would get bang for their buck with his appointment, with Aberdeen sporting director Aberdeen sporting director Lutz Pfannenstial even remarking that he is “better than Guardiola” when it comes to tactically outmaneuvering his opponents.
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