Tony Cascarino believes that Liverpool already know who’ll be in line to take over from Jurgen Klopp as the club’s manager from the beginning of June.
The German announced in late January that he’ll be departing at the end of this season, although he’d informed Anfield chiefs of his decision internally two months previously.
The past few weeks have seen plenty of speculation as to who’ll replace him, with Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim appearing to be the current frontrunner, but one pundit is adamant that the LFC hierarchy already have their preferred candidate in place.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Cascarino explained: “I think they know their man already. If you knew in November that your guy was going, you’d have spent a hell of a lot of work knowing who is the right appointment. If you don’t know by April, so nearly six months ago now, then there’s something’s wrong somewhere. You must have an inkling.
“They kept Klopp under wraps, incredibly, without anybody having any inkling at all. Even in the press, no-one had a clue that Klopp was leaving. If you’ve got six months to choose a manager, I’d imagine they’d have to had it nearly in place, but have just kept that under wraps as tightly as they kept it under wraps that Klopp is leaving.”
You’d like to think that, if the Liverpool hierarchy knew in November that Klopp was leaving at the end of the season, they’d have immediately begun prowling for his replacement.
As Cascarino suggests, perhaps Anfield chiefs have their next manager essentially secured already, although the need to appoint a new sporting director in the meantime may have hampered the managerial selection process.
It hopefully won’t be too much longer before we discover who’ll be taking over from the legendary German in the Reds’ dugout.
You can view Cascarino’s comments below (from 2:58), via talkSPORT on YouTube: