One manager has reacted to being linked with the Liverpool job as ‘recognition’ of the work at his current club.
Earlier this week, The Athletic reported that Lens boss Franck Haise scored highly in terms of performance data with the resources available to him, although he’s deemed unlikely to make the Reds’ final shortlist in the search for Jurgen Klopp’s successor.
However, the 52-year-old has publicly acknowledged the interest from Merseyside and, rather than dismissing it out of hand, seems flattered by it.
Speaking to RMC Sport, he declared: “What can I say? It’s a good thing. It’s recognition for a job well done. A job that I don’t do alone, by the way. If we’re talking about the data, the work on the data, the results, the principles of the game…
“It’s a collective job, so for me it’s a recognition that we can take some pride in and recognition of the work the club has been doing for four years and more. I don’t have much else to say.”
Lens were in Ligue 2 when Haise took the reins four years ago, but he led them to second place in the top flight last season and a return to the Champions League, in which they defeated Arsenal in the group stage during the autumn.
He’s won just over half of his 157 matches in charge at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, earning 1.73 points per game (Transfermarkt) – a fine return for a club with only a fraction of Paris Saint-Germain’s budget.
The one caveat which mightn’t appeal to some Liverpool fans is that he’s renowned as a coach with a defensive tactical mindset, while they don’t tend to press anywhere nearly as much as Klopp’s Reds (Analytics FC).
With Xabi Alonso remaining the firm favourite, Haise would indeed be an outside contender at best to take over at Anfield, but his public reaction to the LFC links suggests that he has plenty of respect for the Merseyside giants.
Five weeks on from the bombshell news of Klopp leaving at the end of the season, it’ll be intriguing to see if there’s any significant progress in the manager search this month.