Liverpool now have just three games left before waving goodbye to the Jurgen Klopp era.
It has been a time of great success at Anfield, with Liverpool collecting just about every trophy on offer to them during Klopp’s reign.
Although the Reds could and perhaps should have won even more under the German, he is unmistakably a Liverpool legend.
Klopp’s success on the pitch alone means he’s a hard act to follow. But the 56-year-old’s charisma and personality make it doubly difficult for the next man coming in.
As we now know, pending an official announcement, that man will be Arne Slot. Since it became clear that Slot was going to be the chosen one, reaction has been pouring in from the football world, not all of it good. And now, Paul Merson has added his thoughts to proceedings.
Paul Merson makes Arne Slot assessment
It’s possibly instructive that two Premier League players – Michail Antonio and Tom Cairney – recently claimed they’d never heard of Slot prior to his association with Liverpool.
The 45-year-old may have been a standout candidate to Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes, but he’s unknown to a lot of people.
That perhaps says more about those people then it does about Slot. But nevertheless, it does mean that the Dutchman may find it hard to initially win over pundits and press in England.
Merson has been one of the most high-profile of those pundits for years now. And writing for Sportskeeda on Thursday, the former England midfielder claimed that Slot has his ‘work cut out for him’ to succeed in the manner of Klopp.
“Liverpool hadn’t won the league title in over 30 years, so Klopp is definitely their best manager in the Premier League era,” says Merson. “I’m a big fan of him, he’s an outstanding manager who has made them as force to be reckoned with again.
“Arne Slot has big shoes to fill, let me put it this way. I don’t know much about him, but it’s hard to follow in the footsteps of someone so legendary, so he has his work cut out for him.”
When will Arne Slot to Liverpool be announced
It has now been over a week since it became clear that Liverpool would be hiring Slot as the man to replace Klopp.
However, we’re still no closer to getting an official announcement from either the Reds or from Feyenoord.
As journalist Graeme Bailey previously explained to Rousing The Kop, Liverpool will take their lead from the Dutch side here.
With their season set to end on the same day as Liverpool’s, they still have a couple of weeks left under the manager who won them the Eredivisie title in 2023.
It feels likely that it will all be officially announced before Sunday May 19th so as to give Feyenoord fans a chance to say goodbye. Not long now, so watch this space.