Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool’s title stumbles can benefit the club’s next manager, as talks continue to appoint Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot.
Liverpool are in negotiations with the Dutch side to appoint their highly-rated manager, with the 45-year-old identified as the leading candidate to replace Klopp in the summer.
Slot has confirmed talks are ongoing and has outlined his desire to make the move to the Premier League, having led Feyenoord to league and cup success in the Netherlands over the last two campaigns.
“I don’t know anything about it. Not involved in the process (of appointing his successor) just to clarify that,” Klopp said at his pre-West Ham press conference on the potential arrival of Slot.
“I like a lot about it, if he is the one, he wants to take the job. Really. Is desperate. ‘Come on, let’s go for it. Excited’.
“I like the way his team play football. All the things I hear about him as a guy, a good guy. Some people I know know him, I don’t know him yet. Some people tell me that he is a really good guy. I like that a lot.
“Good coach, good guy. Looking forward for the club if he is the solution or the man. I’m more than happy. It’s not up to me to judge these things but it all sounds really good to me.”
Klopp said Slot would be inheriting the ‘best job in the world’ should he move to Liverpool and believes his side’s stumbles in recent weeks, falling adrift in the Premier League title race, could benefit the incoming boss.
The German suggested the lack of a league title in his final campaign could temper expectations for his eventual successor.
“Best job in the world, best club in the world, best job in the world. Obviously now I even help by not finishing on a high, it looks like.
“There is space for improvement. Great job, great team, fantastic people. He would take a really, really interesting job.”