Neil Jones has dismissed rumours surrounding one manager who’s recently been touted as a possible candidate for Liverpool.
Over the weekend, the Daily Mail claimed that Niko Kovac has come into contention to replace Jurgen Klopp, with the 52-year-old’s agents believed to have spoken with a few Premier League clubs during a recent visit to London.
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However, speaking to EOTK Insider, the journalist doesn’t think that the former Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg boss is a credible candidate for the upcoming vacancy at Anfield.
Jones said: “I saw the headline and it made more sense for his agents who have been sounding out Premier League clubs. That feels like an agent-led story to me. I don’t think Liverpool will be in the running for Niko Kovac. It will be someone with a lot more recent pedigree.”
Kovac’s name appeared to spring from nowhere when it was first mentioned in tandem with the Liverpool job, and his most recent managerial post wouldn’t offer any great encouragement that he’d be a success at Anfield.
The Croatian was sacked by Wolfsburg last month following a nightmare sequence of just one win in 15 matches, which came away to the Bundesliga’s bottom club Darmstadt in December (Transfermarkt).
He left Die Wölfe 14th in the table at the time of his dismissal, not exactly the kind of placing which’d have clubs of LFC’s stature moving heaven and earth to secure his services.
It’s hard to imagine that Liverpool would have Kovac higher on their list of managerial candidates than Ruben Amorim, who’s currently on course to win a second league title in four years at Sporting Lisbon and has been given a glowing character reference by one of his former players in Fulham’s Joao Palhinha.
We agree with Jones – the rumours surrounding the 52-year-old and the Anfield job appear to be nothing more than his agents putting out feelers ahead of a summer which’ll likely see a frantic merry-go-round of managers in England and across Europe.