Next Liverpool manager: Atalanta boss Gasperini clarifies Anfield links

Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini admits he’s ‘happy’ to see talk of him becoming the next Liverpool manager. The Italian certainly caught the eye last week.

Gian Piero Gasperini is preparing to take on Liverpool as Atalanta host the Reds in the UEFA Europa League. This will be a quarter-final second leg and one the Italians are overwhelming favourites to win.

They won 3-0 at Anfield, after all - and it's a very long time since someone has done that. So impressive was the result, in fact, that it sparked talk that Gasperini could be the next Liverpool manager.

Now, it's hard to tell just how serious that talk is - or whether it's happening at all behind the scenes at Anfield - but the 66-year-old was asked for his impression ahead of Thursday's game.

“Of course, I am happy with links to Liverpool job to replace [Jurgen] Klopp but my focus is on the game," he said, per Fabrizio Romano.

“We can’t be distracted by this kind of links or stories, we have to focus on the upcoming games”.

Gian Piero Gasperini and Liverpool

Gasperini is one of the most interesting managers in world football and the work he's done at Atalanta has been extraordinary. He transformed them from being a bottom-half Serie A side into one that consistently competes in Europe.

And the Italian did that while playing some of the best football around. Honestly, there isn't much that counts against him - only really his age and lack of trophies.

That and a terrible spell with Inter that saw him sacked after five games.

We wouldn't expect Gasperini to get the job, but Liverpool will have almost certainly considered him. And who knows? Another impressive result against the Reds on Thursday may just raise eyebrows at Anfield - let alone if they do go on to lift the trophy.