Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has changed his tune on the prospect of Brighton and Hove Albion manager Roberto de Zerbi replacing Jurgen Klopp at the Premier League giants.
Flavour of the month not so long ago, Brighton’s poor run of results means reports linking Roberto de Zerbi with the Liverpool job are leaving a rather more bitter taste in the mouths of the Anfield faithful these days.
HITC Football understands that the Italian has his admirers on Merseyside, Jurgen Klopp confirming that this will be his final season at the helm.
Murphy, five months ago, singled out De Zerbi as the ‘perfect’ candidate to take over from the iconic German. By his own admission, the former England international is now rowing back on those claims a little, the 4-0 midweek hammering at Luton Town meaning Brighton have won just three of their last 16 Premier League games.
“If you said De Zerbi would come through the door now, I’d say ‘no’,” Murphy, an FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup winner under Gerard Houllier in 2001, tells talkSPORT.
“Not yet. Maybe somewhere down the line. (I have changed my mind) a little bit.”
Brighton have dropped points against the likes of Sheffield United and Crystal Palace, and were also on the wrong end of a 6-1 hammering by Aston Villa. Murphy is keen to point out that a spate of injuries, not to mention the demands of European football, should not be underplayed, but the court of public opinion now appears to be leaning heavily in the direction of Xabi Alonso instead.
“I don’t think Roberto de Zerbi deserves to be linked with Liverpool right now,” adds Martin Keown, a three-time Premier League champion at Arsenal (BBC Sport).
“Not with the 16-game record he has had. It has almost gone under the carpet. We like to talk nicely about their beautiful patterns of play – we haven’t seen that for a while now.”
Alonso, now leading a Bundesliga title charge with Bayer Leverkusen, has been reluctant to throw his name into the Liverpool frame, while Feyenoord boss Arne Slot also opted to keep his powder dry.
Former Palace-chairman-turned-pundit Simon Jordan, meanwhile, suggests Liverpool should look closer to home at a 58-year-old who shares a lot of ‘similarities’ with Jurgen Klopp.
