Steve Clarke leaves Liverpool and is in contention to become WBA new manager

The League Managers' Association has announced that Steve Clarke has left Liverpool, clearing the way for Brendan Rodgers to bring in his own assistant.

Clarke was taken to Anfield in January 2011 by former Reds boss Kenny Dalglish.

Having forged a reputation as one of the finest coaches in the business during spells at Newcastle, Chelsea and West Ham, the Scot was offered the opportunity to work alongside Dalglish as he attempted to bring the good times back to Merseyside.

Liverpool disappointed, though, in 2011/12, with a Carling Cup success not enough to paper over the Premier League cracks.

Dalglish was relieved of his duties by the Reds board as a result, leaving Clarke facing up to an uncertain future.

Liverpool moved quickly to fill their managerial void with the appointment of Rodgers, and he will be allowed to bring in his own backroom team.

That means Clarke's services are no longer required and he has officially vacated his post.

Rodgers has yet to name a number two but Liverpool and the 39-year-old's former club Swansea have agreed a compensation package which sees three of his trusted staff move to Anfield, including his Liberty Stadium assistant Colin Pascoe.

Performance analyst Chris Davies and head of sports science and medicine Glen Driscoll have also linked up with the Reds.

West Bromwich Albion have moved quickly to sound out Clarke after he left Anfield and sources close to the club believe he could even be appointed by the weekend.

Former Schalke boss Ralf Rangnick had looked set to take charge at the Hawthorns, but he appears to have now dropped out of the running to succeed Hodgson.

Clarke has gained plenty of experience working as number two at Chelsea, West Ham and most recently at Liverpool under Kenny Dalglish.

But the 48 year-old is believed to be keen to step in to a managerial role and Albion fit the bill.

Clarke will have a hard act to follow in Hodgson, who guided West Brom to a top-10 finish in the Barclays Premier League last season.

Source: Sky Sports, Telegraph Sport

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Transfer Watch: Liverpool to re-ignites Fernando interest and other possible transfers

Liverpool has been alerted by the news report coming out from the Real Madrid camp on the availability of Argentine defensive midfielder, Fernando Gago.

Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho has instructed the club that he intends to get rid of Kaka, Fernando Gago, Hamit Altintop and Ricardo Carvalho in the off-season. According to Mundo Deportivo, Gago will follow Kaka, Altintop and Carvalho through the Bernabeu exit if Mourinho gets his way in the summer.

Gago is not part of Mourinho's plans and the midfielder spent the season on loan at Roma. He was expected to seal a permanent move to the Serie A outfit last month but the Italians refused to meet the €7million asking price set by Madrid by the June 1 deadline. Gago has one year left on his contract and may now be forced to run out his contract next season if no other interested buyers come in.

Liverpool new manager, Brendan Rodgers are looked set to recruit more players to mount a serious Premier League challenge this August. There are a few key areas in the Reds team need to be covered and Lucas Leiva’s position are the most crucial as the Reds struggles to fill the defensive midfield role last season when the Brazilian midfielder sat out through injury.

Fernando Gago transfer probability – 3/5 and worth £5.7million, aged 26, will fits into FSG’s plan.

Let’s look at other transfer target for Liverpool FC.

Many reports suggested that Rodgers are interested in his former Swansea City players, Joe Allen and Gylfi Sigurdsson. Are these the kind of players that can drive Liverpool back to Champions League football?

According to the BBC, Sigurdsson has verbally agreed to make his loan move to Swansea permanent, but since Rodger’s made his Liverpool switch, his future has become somewhat more uncertain. Rodgers has since admitted that “if he comes on the market I have to be interested. He knows that I rate his qualities and abilities.”

Rodgers’ interest in Joe Allen also has an air of authenticity. He was the mainstay at Swansea City and Rodgers’ is clearly a big fan. There’s every chance that he’ll look to bring him over to the Reds (if Swansea doesn’t placed a players protection clause when Liverpool signs Rodgers).

Another noticeable mentioned by the press was Fulham’s Clint Dempsey. Liverpool’s chairman Tom Werner has made his interest in the American star clear. He publicly told the press, “We never talk publicly about our transfer targets. However, any team would be lucky to have Clint Dempsey playing on their squad.”

All three are Internationals, can pass the ball around neatly and score goals. They’ve all got Premier League experience, are physical and have bucket loads of energy. In particular Clint Dempsey is the real deal and how Liverpool could use his goals moving forward.

Without Champions League football, Liverpool FC would never going to get Fernando Llorente, Kaka or Eden Hazard. As such the Reds need to start making sensible signings and rebuilding. These three players look like they’ve got the nous to get Liverpool competing again.

Source: LFC Stats

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Rumour Mill: Liverpool wants Manchester City midfielder as Kuyt replacement

Newly installed Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is wasting no time in his pursuit of new additions to his Anfield squad and having offloaded Dirk Kuyt to Fenerbahce, the former Swansea City manager will now look to move for Manchester City winger Adam Johnson.

Rodgers is believed to be preparing a significant bid, said to be in the region of £16million, for the 24-year-old England international and the Northern Irishman will hope that the promise of regular first team football will act as enough motivation for the former Middlesbrough man to push for an Etihad Stadium exit.

Johnson has struggled to make an impact at Manchester City and has consistently failed to secure a regular first team berth ever since his £7million move to the club. Last term the Sunderland born winger managed just 10 Premier League starts and as a result lost his spot in the England Euro 2012 squad.

Whilst Manchester City may well have won the Premier League and have Champions League football to look forward to Johnson may well feel that his career is stagnating at the club. The arrival of Samir Nasri last summer further stifled his progress and talk of further additions could well spell a death knell to his time at the big spending club.

Liverpool could well do with a more natural right wing option as Jordan Henderson has struggled to fill the role since his move to the club and with Kuyt having left there is indeed further need to consider addressing the problem area.

Source: Caught Offside

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Video: Brendan Rodgers the new LFC manager

Fenway Sports Group (FSG) and Liverpool Football Club announced that Brendan Rodgers has been appointed as the club's new manager, last Friday morning after signing a contract.

Rodgers, 39, is regarded as being at the forefront of a new generation of football coaches, an excellent tactician and motivator with a progressive philosophy. After an extensive two-week process where many highly-qualified candidates were carefully considered, Liverpool's ownership group identified Rodgers as the single outstanding candidate to implement their long-term vision.

 

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Liverpool wants Barcelona playmaker

Liverpool FC long-term transfer target and want-away Barcelona playmaker, Ibrahim Afellay could be donning the red shirt of Merseyside. But with the Catalan giants ready to accept offers in the region of £6 million, Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle have all been alerted to the availability of Barcelona playmaker.

The midfielder was signed by Barcelona from PSV Eindhoven for a cut-price £2.3 million after he entered the last year of his contract with the Dutch side, and despite showing immense promise initially, an injury hampered his progress at the Spanish giants. After returning from injury, it is thought that he would be available for as little as £6 million, which is considered a bargain for a player of such a high quality.

Barcelona have put the 26-year-old up for sale and believe his starting berth for Holland at the Euro's will be a perfect platform to boost his price.

According to reports, not only will Afellay be available for purchase this summer, but he'll be available for a lot less than expected. This makes it crucial for the Reds to pursue him.

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Liverpool missed out on free transfer target

Following the sacking of Kenny Dalglish, the proposed transfer deal for Senegal midfielder, Mohamed Diame to Liverpool has collapsed.

The Senegal midfielder, 24, is a free agent after letting his contract at Wigan run down, and although he has offers on the table from Spain, France and Turkey, he admits feeling hurt after having a move to Anfield snatched away.

Diame has revealed he held discussions with Dalglish about a possible move to Anfield and that he was sad to see the deal fall through following the Scot's departure earlier this month.

   “I met before Kenny Dalglish and we talked about next season, but God decided to finish this situation,”

“It is true I was very sad in my head as I was thinking to go there, but that is OK as I think I have got other opportunities to go to another club.”

“I am free and not everybody is free in this moment like a midfield player like me and that is why I have got a lot of clubs interested in me,”

“I have to be composed and make a good decision for my future. I have got some offers from Spain, from France, from Turkey, but I really want to stay in the Premier League.” Diame told Sky Sports News.

However, there could be an outside chance of a deal being resurrected should Latics boss Roberto Martinez - who is expected to hold more talks with FSG having returned from holiday today - be appointed to succeed Dalglish.

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Van Gaal penned himself in for Liverpool’s manager role

Louis van Gaal has told Liverpool that he is looking for a management role, rather than a position as a director of football, as his next job.

Van Gaal has been strongly linked with the vacant management position at Anfield, although the club's owners are believed to have identified the experienced Dutchman as the ideal candidate to be the Reds' new director of football, rather than the straight replacement for recently sacked Kenny Dalglish.

Liverpool reportedly plan to appoint a younger man to be in charge of coaching and day-to-day affairs under the more senior director of football.

   “My fingers are itching. I’m full of fire and want to work with players.

“I get dozens of offers but I’m waiting for the best one.”

But Van Gaal, 60, is such a strong personality that the idea of taking the reins as team coach would appeal strongly.

One man who is unlikely to take over is ex-England boss Fabio Capello.

Reports this week suggested FSG had been in contact with the Italian but he is now not believed to be on the shortlist, according to the Liverpool Echo.

Wigan’s Roberto Martinez is expected to meet the owners for talks over the next 48 hours and remains among the favourites, along with ex-Chelsea boss Andre Villa-Boas.

Kuyt, currently on international duty preparing for Euro 2012, gave his backing to the former Ajax and Bayern Munich manager.

   “It is not usual for players to speak about candidates, but he is a Dutchman, has a great track record and has the experience that the club could put to good use,”

“At the moment, Liverpool have no coach or technical director.

“Each club benefits from structure. You look at the Dutch national team and see that consistency and clarity are important.” Dirk Kuyt told De Telegraaf.

Kuyt seemed destined to be leaving Anfield this summer after his starting opportunities were reduced significantly last season, but has hinted he may be open to staying with a new manager coming in to replace Kenny Dalglish.

Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers, who publicly rejected the chance to hold talks with Liverpool last week, remains on the radar and would be approached again.

FSG have however distanced themselves from speculation linking them with a move for Didier Deschamps.

It has been reported that Marseille boss Deschamps spurned the Reds’ advances when he declared he intends to remain with the French club but FSG had no plans to speak to the Frenchman. The same applies to Harry Redknapp who has also been linked with the post.

Let’s look at the latest updates on the potential target list for Liverpool FC.

1. Michael Laudrup
2. Brendan Rodgers
3. Frank de Boer
4. Jurgen Klopp
5. Pep Guardiola
6. Roberto Martinez
7. Fabio Capello
8. Andre Villas-Boas
9. Didier Deschamps
10. Joachim Low
11. Paul Lambert
12. Rafael Benitez
13. Jose Mourinho
14. Alan Pardew
15. Guus Hiddink
16. Frank Rijkaard
17. Louis van Gaal

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Liverpool manager speculation round up

Liverpool owners are looking to make budget cuts and bring a new economic policy that might ruin any chance that the club had to keep the likes of Luis Suarez and Martin Skrtel. According to reports, Suarez is being scouted by Italian giants AC Milan and Juventus while Fiorentina are interested in taking Skrtel to Florence. The Fenway Sports Group believe that austerity is the only way to bring some normalcy to the Anfield balance books.

Roberto Martinez has been built up as a front runner to take up the managerial post at Anfield as he fits the tag of ‘young up and coming’ manager that the Fenway Sports Group seem to be looking for. According to reports, the fans haven’t received this news with any warmth whatsoever and have made it clear that they would like former boss Rafael Benitez to be back at the helm. Liverpool’s manager search has been heavily criticised and one wonders whether all the hullabaloo caused by it will result in any substantive decision making.

Spanish moneybags Malaga are looking to ruin Liverpool’s chances of signing Bologna midfielder Gaston Ramirez while the Reds struggle to find a manager to handle footballing affairs at the club. The Premier League team had submitted a £16million bid with Bologna according to the player’s agent but Malaga are looking to take advantage of the chaos at the club by acquiring the player right under the noses of the Liverpool owners.

Now a few managers has been distance themselves from the managerial vacancy at Anfield. Let’s go through who’s left for FSG to pick from below.

1. Michael Laudrup
2. Brendan Rodgers
3. Frank de Boer
4. Jurgen Klopp
5. Pep Guardiola
6. Roberto Martinez
7. Fabio Capello
8. Andre Villas-Boas
9. Didier Deschamps
10. Joachim Low
11. Paul Lambert
12. Rafael Benitez
13. Jose Mourinho
14. Alan Pardew
15. Guus Hiddink
16. Frank Rijkaard

At this time Martinez leads the list of favoured managers to take the managerial role at Liverpool with Bet 365 putting him at 9/4, while William Hill place him at a lower price of 6/4. But do fans want to see another name in the dug-out that hasn’t lit up the likes of Europe or even challenged for a European place in the Premier League?

Another favourite to take the hot seat, that has been mentioned quite frequently, is Andre Villas-Boas. AVB had an equally unfair and poor stint at Chelsea but it is his outstanding record at FC Porto that has caught the eye at Liverpool; currently installed at 11/4 on Bet 365 and 2/1 at William Hill.

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