Fabrizio Romano has issued an encouraging update on Liverpool’s pursuit of Arne Slot.
Anfield chiefs are in negotiations with Feyenoord over a potential move for their manager, who’s believed to be very keen on the prospect of taking over from Jurgen Klopp.
The Italian reporter shared his latest knowledge of the situation in his eponymous Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside on Thursday morning, and it seems that things are progressing smoothly in that respect.
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Romano stated: “It was an important day in Liverpool’s manager search as they spent all day in negotiations with Arne Slot and Feyenoord.
“In the morning, Liverpool made contact to start the conversations with Feyenoord, and from what I understand, the Dutch club don’t want to say anything about it in public because the talks are going very well.
“Their relationship is good, talks have been very positive, and that’s also the case with Liverpool and their conversations with Slot’s agent Rafaela Pimenta.
“Slot wants the Liverpool job, conversations so far have been super positive, so now it’s about reaching an agreement with Feyenoord. It’s going well and Slot is now the big favourite to become the next Liverpool manager.”
James Pearce claimed over the past 24 hours that Feyenoord will likely demand a figure in the region of €15m (£12.8m) to allow Slot to leave, 50% more than had been quoted by other sources.
Liverpool have seen an initial €9m (£7.7m) offer rejected by Rotterdam chiefs, although Romano’s update suggests that the lowballing hasn’t put noses overly out of joint at De Kuip if subsequent negotiations are progressing positively.
The 45-year-old’s desire to come to Anfield is an obvious plus point which indicates that things could accelerate quickly if the Eredivisie club give their blessing to the proposed move, so if LFC can reach that point, it mightn’t be much longer before a deal is finalised.
Exactly how long it’ll take for Merseyside chiefs to present an improved compensation package to Feyenoord is uncertain, but the hope is that it might come sooner rather than later if talks are going well.
The pursuit has already advanced significantly in recent days, and it feels as if things could continue to move quickly as Liverpool potentially zone in on the man to hopefully carry on the outstanding work of Klopp over the past nine years.