Liverpool are just six games away from having a completely vacant managerial position.
The Reds have known for the past three months or so that they’d be needing a new manager come the end of the season.
With the final game of 2023/24 now exactly one month away though, we are still in the dark over who will follow Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
Some kind of progress does appear to have been made. Over the past couple of weeks Liverpool have reportedly been working from a five-man shortlist in order to single out the best candidate.
According to journalist David Ornstein meanwhile, there’s still a chance that FSG will be ‘brave’ and hire a slightly unexpected name. And after that update from earlier in the week, Ornstein has now added some more flesh to the bones.
What has David Ornstein reported about Liverpool
Ornstein has built a strong reputation as one of the most reliable voices where transfers and managerial updates are concerned.
So, his Q&A’s with fans on The Athletic is always worth keeping an eye on for concrete updates regarding Liverpool’s new manager search.
And that’s where Ornstein has now claimed that Liverpool will be in a position to ‘advance’ on their top target ‘pretty soon.’
“I don’t have any significant updates yet and as soon as we get any we’ll bring them to you,” says the journalist. “[Ruben] Amorim is in the mix, as has been well documented, but we’re told he is not a shoo-in or a nailed-on first choice at this stage. Liverpool are said to be conducting a genuinely thorough and broad process that has also highlighted alternative candidates.
“Those involved in the search will be finishing due diligence on those candidates and from what I hear they should be in a position to make more concrete advances on whoever emerges as their top target pretty soon.
“Incoming sporting director Richard Hughes and FSG CEO of football Michael Edwards, we’re assured, won’t be afraid to look beyond the obvious names if others fit their criteria — and they’re prepared to be brave over popular.”
Who could Liverpool’s ‘brave’ choices be
This is such an intriguing update from Ornstein. Although it does seem quite likely that Liverpool will hire Ruben Amorim, it certainly isn’t a done deal.
In some ways, we’re hoping that it isn’t Amorim just so we can see who are the ‘brave’ and unpopular choices Hughes and Edwards are said to be considering.
For the life of us, we can’t see who they would be. Ornstein himself has already near-enough ruled Roberto De Zerbi, while Julian Nagelsmann looks set for Bayern Munich.
Liverpool could do something completely off the wall and hire Borussia Dortmund assistant manager Nuri Sahin or maybe even Fernando Torres. But that surely isn’t the path they’ll choose.
Either way, it sounds like things will become clearer very soon indeed.