Liverpool continue their hunt for Jurgen Klopp’s replacement and as per reports, the Anfield outfit have interviewed Wolves boss Gary O’Neil.
Yes, as weird as it may sound Liverpool seem to have the Wolves manager on their wishlist but it’s very much unclear if the 40-year-old is a favourite for the job or not.
Ruben Amorim has been the frontrunner to replace Klopp but in the past 48 hours, the Sporting manager has held talks with West Ham United over the possibility of joining them. Also, Amorim is said to have demanded a three-year contract at Liverpool worth £10 million per season but the Reds are offering something lower than that.
A few experts are claiming that the talks between Amorim and Liverpool have somewhat derailed which is probably why the club is now stepping up their efforts for the other candidates.
Gary O’Neil has been with Wolves since last summer and this season, the Molineux outfit has done fairly decently under him. O’Neil got little time and almost no budget to set up his side but right now, Wolves are 11th on the Premier League table.
He’s done some very good work with Wolves and with Bournemouth before that but there’s no way he can replace Jurgen Klopp at a club like Liverpool.
Gary O’Neil has managed 40 games for Wolves this season and under his expertise, the club has won just 16 games. The Molineux outfit are picking up just 1.4 points per game under the 40-year-old and right now, they are winless in their previous five league outings.
To manage a team like Liverpool, you don’t just have to be tactically sound but you also should have the ability to soak immense pressure and the latter’s something that Gary O’Neil will struggle with. Given the right atmosphere and the right players, there is a possibility that O’Neil might find success at Anfield but the constant demand for trophies is going to be almost impossible for him to match up.
David Moyes was doing really well with Everton before he took charge of Manchester United a decade ago and we all know how that experiment went. If Liverpool appoint Gary O’Neil as their next manager then a similar thing might unfold over the next two or three seasons.
Logically speaking Gary O’Neil should not be a favourite and the Liverpool management are probably doing a thorough scrutiny before they choose Klopp’s replacement and over the course of the next couple of months we are likely to leave similar interview reports of probable candidates.
Lille manager Paulo Fonseca is admired by the Liverpool hierarchy while others like Thomas Frank and Roberto De Zerbi are also on the club’s radar but the ownership will have to keep in mind that whoever they bring in should command the same respect and authority that Jurgen Klopp has enjoyed over the years, both on and off the pitch.
