French football expert Jonathan Johnson has discussed Liverpool’s ‘interest’ in one possible ‘outsider’ to replace Jurgen Klopp as manager at Anfield.
The Athletic recently named Lens head coach Franck Haise among a list of potential candidates for the LFC job, even if others such as Xabi Alonso, Roberto De Zerbi and Julian Nagelsmann appear to be far likelier contenders.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column, the journalist noted how the 52-year-old revived a sleeping giant of French football with a similar culture to that of the Reds and Klopp’s previous club Borussia Dortmund.
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Johnson said: “Although we’ve heard a lot about names like Xabi Alonso and Roberto De Zerbi, Lens manager Franck Haise has also been linked as one potential outsider for the Liverpool job after his impressive work in Ligue 1.
“My understanding is that, yes, there has been interest in him going back a couple of years now, not just from Liverpool but also from other clubs across Europe. I don’t think you can underplay the massive role that he’s played in the restoration of Lens to being one of France’s major clubs once again.
“Lens has huge cultural significance to French football, a huge fan-base, and there are a lot of parallels between them and Borussia Dortmund, which perhaps makes sense as him being linked as someone who could follow Jurgen Klopp.
“Still, in terms of what he’s done on the pitch he’s not had quite the same amount of time with Lens as Klopp had with Dortmund, so he doesn’t have the silverware or European runs to boast.”
Haise took over at Lens just over four years ago when they were in the French tier and has re-established them as one of the country’s foremost clubs, with Les Sang et Or on course for a fourth successive finish in the top seven of Ligue 1.
They even finished second last season to return to the Champions League after a 21-year absence and achieved a memorable win at home to Arsenal in the group stage, along with dumping Europa League aristocrats Sevilla out of continental action altogether before Christmas.
The 52-year-old appeared to be flattered by Liverpool’s reported interest when speaking to RMC Sport in recent weeks, but while he’s accustomed to managing at a hotbed of a football club with a raucous fan base in France, expectations would ramp up if he were to succeed Klopp at Anfield.
As Johnson points out, for all of Haise’s qualities, he wouldn’t come with the trophy-laden CV and proven European pedigree that the German could boast when he took charge of the Reds in 2015.
The Lens manager will likely remain an ‘outsider’ candidate for the LFC job, but it speaks to the work that he’s done at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis that he’s even being mentioned as a possible successor to the legendary 56-year-old.