By Humberto Viera
Feb 23, 2024, 1:46 PM EST
Stephen Warnock, who was a teammate of Xabi Alonso at Liverpool, expressed that he does not believe that the Spanish coach is the main candidate to lead the Merseyside team after the departure of Jürgen Klopp.
In statements to the Liverpool Echo newspaper, reported by EFE, Warnock mentioned that from the point of view of Liverpool and its owners, FSG, they will take their time to find a long-term solution for Klopp’s succession.
“I’m sure they’ve followed coaches practically since Klopp started. They wanted to make sure they were ready for that day, whether it was going away or if it was a bad streak. “That’s football, anything can happen,” added Warnock, who was at Liverpool between 2002 and 2007 and shared a team with Alonso for two and a half seasons.
Although Xabi Alonso is considered the main favorite to replace Klopp, due to his successful season with Bayer Leverkusen, where the team leads the Bundesliga by eight points and is in the semi-finals of the German Cup and in the Europa League round of 32, Warnock believes that Alonso’s unprecedented achievements with the German team are not enough, since the Liverpool board wants a more established name.
“Xabi Alonso will only have come on their radar in the last year or so, so I’m sure they have other names on their radar who they think could be Klopp’s replacement. The manager I imagine is Roberto de Zerbi, due to the way he arrived in the Premier League and his success at Brighton. He has done an incredible job and practically works with the same resources as Klopp. I think he would be ideal for the club,” added the former player.
De Zerbi has experience on the bench, having previously coached Palermo, Benevento and Sassuolo. Furthermore, he managed to lead Shakhtar Donetsk to win a Ukrainian Super Cup during his stay in Ukraine, before having to leave the country in July 2022 due to the Russian invasion.
De Zerbi subsequently joined Brighton as a replacement for Graham Potter, managing to lead the ‘Seagulls’ to their best season in history, qualifying them for the first time to compete in European competition.
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