Liverpool FC news recap: 'Last Dance', Xabi Alonso update

Here's our Liverpool FC news update as the club reacts further to Jurgen Klopp's shock announcement on Friday. The search for a new manager is underway.

Liverpool are going to have an incredibly busy few months. Not only will the team compete to win four trophies before the end of May but they'll also be hunting for Jurgen Klopp's replacement.

How do you find someone for that?

The search is underway, though, and has been for the last couple of months, say reports. For all the latest on that, here's our Liverpool FC news update for Saturday, 27 January.

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Liverpool's two-month search

Liverpool have been preparing for two months to start a new manager search after Jurgen Klopp notified them of his decision to leave. The German departs at the end of the season.

While the world was shocked by Jurgen Klopp announcing his Liverpool FC departure on Friday, it wasn't news to the club's owners. A select few already knew of his desire to depart after he called Mike Gordon in November with his decision.

Klopp wasn't ready to fully announce the news (and wouldn't be for two months, as it turned out). Liverpool couldn't exactly make approaches, then, as that would certainly cause the news to leak out.

They were still able to make moves, though. The data department, with Will Spearman at the head, have spent two months doing 'background work' on potential successors. They're specifically looking for candidates who fit Liverpool's current brand of football.

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Guardiola reacts to Klopp exit

Pep Guardiola says he will get a better night’s sleep once Jurgen Klopp finally departs Liverpool, as the football world continues to react to the bombshell news that the manager will leave at the end of this season.

City were in action at Tottenham on Friday night in the FA Cup fourth round and, afterwards, Guardiola was asked to share his thoughts on Klopp’s upcoming departure.

"I will sleep better,” he joked. “The games against Liverpool have almost been a nightmare. Of course he will be missed. I was shocked like everyone. I felt, listening to the news, that a part of Man City will lose something."

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Leverkusen feels Alonso could stay

Xabi Alonso is the early frontrunner to replace Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager but his club, Bayer Leverkusen, are not resigned to losing him, according to reports from Germany.

Alonso agreed a two-year contract extension last summer, amid reported interest from Tottenham Hotspur, when Leverkusen bosses moved quickly to tie him down.

And although the former Real Madrid star has been tipped as a Liverpool manager in the making, Leverkusen remain optimistic that he will honour the terms of his deal.

“Bayer 04 Leverkusen is aware that Xabi #Alonso is on FC Liverpool's list,” wrote Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg on X, formerly Twitter.

“However, at this stage they remain optimistic and assume Alonso won't leave the club in the summer."

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Reds call season 'The Last Dance'

Liverpool players were calling this season 'The Last Dance' even before yesterday's shock news that Jurgen Klopp will leave the club.

Here's Klopp's last run at silverware, an attempt to go out on a bang and potentially deliver the sole trophy he hasn't won at Liverpool.

It brings about feelings of 'The Last Dance' - the nickname the Chicago Bulls had for their final season under Phil Jackson and with Michael Jordan in the team. Made famous by the documentary, of course.

Only, according to the Athletic, some Liverpool players were already calling this season The Last Dance - before they had any inkling that Klopp was leaving. So, why were they calling it that?

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Amorim in the running

Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim is on Liverpool’s list of preferred candidates to take over from Jurgen Klopp, according to reports in Portugal. 

Having won the Primeira Liga title in 2020-21, Amorim has developed into one of Europe’s best young coaches with a host of top clubs around the continent taking interest in his achievements.

Amorim has a buyout clause of €20 million inserted into his current Sporting contract, a figure which is not believed to be an impediment for Liverpool or other interested parties. That's according to an exclusive report in the weekend edition of Portuguese paper Correio da Manha.

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