Christian Falk has named one out-of-work manager who Liverpool are reportedly ‘monitoring’ as a possible candidate to replace Jurgen Klopp.
In recent days, the Daily Mail dubbed Niko Kovac a possible contender for the Anfield job after his representatives apparently spoke with a few Premier League clubs during a meeting in London, although Neil Jones subsequently dismissed those links as an ‘agent-led story’.
However, the reliable German reporter hasn’t completely ruled out the 52-year-old from taking charge of the Reds, even if he’s not at the top of the club’s list as things stand despite his agents having spoken to a delegation from LFC.
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In his Fact Files for Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing, Falk wrote: “Niko Kovac was most recently released in Wolfsburg. Suddenly he is considered a candidate for Liverpool FC. He himself publicly downplays the interest. However, I learned that his agents were actually in England.
“It is also true that his agents have spoken to Liverpool FC. The result: Kovac is not one of the top candidates at Liverpool. But it is also true that he is on an extended list of candidates who are not yet an issue but which the club is monitoring.”
One aspect where Kovac might have an edge over the likes of Ruben Amorim and Roberto De Zerbi is that he’s currently available and therefore wouldn’t require any negotiation with clubs, or any release clause to be paid.
However, if that’s probably the biggest plus in his favour, it doesn’t distinguish him as a manager for whom Liverpool should be moving heaven and earth to try and get in at Anfield.
The 52-year-old was given his marching orders by Wolfsburg last month after an abysmal run of one win in 15 matches, the type of sequence which’d be catastrophic for a club of the Reds’ ambitions and standing.
From Falk’s update, it seems that Kovac is on the periphery of LFC’s radar, someone whom they’ve earmarked as a possible candidate but by no means their first choice.
The scale of replacing a manager as legendary as Klopp isn’t to be taken lightly, and Liverpool need to push the boat out to try and land whoever they most want, rather than merely settling for a coach who’s several names down their wish list.