Fabrizio Romano has revealed the ”slight favourite” for the Liverpool job.
After Liverpool’s narrow 2-1 over Brighton on Sunday Jurgen Klopp shared a warm hub with his Brighton counterpart Roberto de Zerbi in the Anfield tunnel.
Klopp, whose side returned to the Premier League summit, was subsequently full of praise for De Zerbi amid reports the Italian is among the favourites to replace the German at Anfield next season.
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"I told De Zerbi to keep turning the football world upside down," Klopp told BBC Radio 5 Live. "I will watch it from some distance. I respect so much what he's doing."
"It is incredible what he has done, Brighton have lost Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo, they have lots of injuries, but he puts a team like that together. An incredible job."
The comments raised eyebrows among the Liverpool faithful, with many questioning whether Klopp was hinting at his successor.
However, transfer guru Romano has reiterated that Sporting manager Bruno Amorim appears the favourite to take the Merseyside job, adding that Bayern Munich may be De Zerbi’s next destination.
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Discussing the Liverpool manager situation, Romano told Caught Offside: “Despite the links with De Zerbi as Klopp’s successor, I keep repeating my position on that – I’m told that Ruben Amorim is the favourite option for now. De Zerbi has been on the list for Liverpool for some time as well, but there’s still no development so far.
“Let’s also see what Bayern will decide to do, but it’s still time for internal talks at Bayern on who will replace Thomas Tuchel, and nothing has been decided yet.”
De Zerbi, whose Brighton side sit ninth in the Premier League. Remains contracted at Brighton until 2026.
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However, he has not been shy in expressing his demands to the club’s owner Tony Bloom, if he is going to stay.
"I am lucky because I have a clear idea and in my life, I decide always what I want to do," he said.
"I will speak with Tony and the club and we will find a solution together without problems but I know my future and what I want.
"I want to compete and keep my ambition high because my life is football. I want to wake up happy every morning and fight to reach the maximum."
Topics: Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, Roberto De Zerbi
Chris Byfield