The story that has been building quietly at Anfield for months has suddenly broken into the open. Liverpool have made contact with Jurgen Klopp. Whether that contact was to seek his advice or to sound him out as a managerial candidate is not entirely clear from the reports that emerged over the weekend — but the fact that any contact happened at all says everything about the level of uncertainty that surrounds Arne Slot's future at the club. Slot won the Premier League in his first season. He is now fighting to keep his job in his second. Football, as ever, moves quickly.
What Has Gone Wrong for Slot
The reasons for Liverpool's doubts about Slot are not entirely clear from the outside, which in itself is part of the problem. The squad that Klopp built remains largely intact, the signings made last summer were respectable, and yet the team has not produced the consistent, high-energy football that the club's supporters expected. There have been defensive vulnerabilities that were absent in the title-winning season, and the sense that Slot's relationship with certain players in the dressing room has not been as smooth as the club would like. Internally, the concerns are reportedly significant enough that the club have begun thinking about what comes next. When Andoni Iraola's name enters the conversation as a serious alternative, the message becomes obvious.
The Iraola Option and the Klopp Question
Andoni Iraola is understood to be the number one candidate for the Liverpool job if Slot is removed. The Bournemouth manager turned Crystal Palace's head last season and Bayer Leverkusen are now also said to be monitoring his situation. Whether Liverpool can act before either of those clubs makes their own move is one of the logistical questions in play. As for Klopp, the reports suggest ambiguity around the nature of the contact — he may have been consulted as a trusted adviser rather than as a candidate. Klopp has said publicly on several occasions that he would need a significant rest period before returning to management. One report from the Telegraph offered a counter-narrative, suggesting that Liverpool are close to appointing a new assistant coach in a move that would "remove speculation about Slot's future". Both things can be true simultaneously: clubs manage public perception and internal planning at the same time.
What Liverpool Need to Decide
The coming weeks will clarify everything. Liverpool face the summer transfer window with significant business to do — replacing Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson alone requires serious investment. Making those decisions with uncertainty at managerial level is far from ideal. If the club are going to make a change, doing it quickly and decisively is preferable to an extended period of rumour and instability. If they are backing Slot, they need to say so clearly and give him the transfer support that makes a third-season challenge credible. What they cannot afford is to drift into next season with the same cloud overhead. The fans who watched them win the title in May 2025 deserve more than the confusion that has followed.
Context: Arne Slot took over Liverpool from Jurgen Klopp in summer 2024. Won the Premier League title in 2024-25, Liverpool's second in five years. Contract situation and 2025-26 performance reports unclear. Andoni Iraola is currently Bournemouth manager. Jurgen Klopp has been on sabbatical since leaving Liverpool.
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