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Athletic journo reveals what he’s now hearing about 44-y/o coach and Liverpool job
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Athletic journo reveals what he’s now hearing about 44-y/o coach and Liverpool job

Originally posted on Empire of the Kop
By Farrell Keeling  |  Last updated 4/3/24

Oliver Kay has suggested that Roberto De Zerbi’s personality could work against him when it comes to the Liverpool job.

Jurgen Klopp is set to depart at the end of the current campaign having opted to call time early on his Anfield contract.

The Italian head coach, currently in charge of Brighton & Hove Albion, is reportedly on the Reds’ managerial shortlist along with highly-rated Sporting Lisbon coach Ruben Amorim.

“I don’t think Premier League experience is the thing. It wouldn’t surprise me if De Zerbi or Thomas Frank were on a shortlist and maybe they would be interviewed or maybe not, but I don’t think they would get the job necessarily,” the journalist spoke on The Athletic FC Podcast.

“We alluded to this, a number of people have suggested to us that De Zerbi isn’t the type of person they would look for in terms of a personality point of view, he’s outspoken and he’s hot-headed in some ways.”

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Personality does matter to Liverpool

Liverpool have a firm policy of no, shall we say, “troublemakers”, when it comes to the playing staff.

One would very much imagine that this will extend to the managerial search taking place ahead of the summer.

That’s not to discredit De Zerbi totally as a candidate. However, one might imagine executives at FSG will have raised eyebrows at the 44-year-old’s comments alluding to frustration with Brighton’s ownership (Telegraph).

There will undoubtedly be a clear desire to maintain Jurgen Klopp’s unifying approach at Liverpool from top to bottom.

In that sense, we shouldn’t be too surprised should we pass over the option of the former Shakhtar Donetsk boss in favour of more settled waters.

This article first appeared on Empire of the Kop and was syndicated with permission.

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