'What I’ve heard' - Liverpool coach offers verdict on Arne Slot appointment as manager talks continue

Jay Spearing is looking forward to working alongside Arne Slot, should he be appointed as Liverpool’s next manager.

The Reds ramped up their efforts to appoint a successor to Jurgen Klopp earlier this week, opening talks with Feyenoord after deciding on the 45-year-old as their leading candidate.

While a deal is not yet agreed with the Eredivisie club, Slot already confirmed publicly that he would like to take over at Liverpool, while Klopp has backed the Dutchman to be his successor.

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And Liverpool academy player-coach Spearing is hopeful that Slot can be a successful appointment, believing the Dutchman to be a good fit for the Reds.

“From what I’ve looked at and from what I’ve heard, Arne Slot is very offensive with his football,” Spearing told Stadium Astro. “He’s on the front foot, aggressive, attacking, but he also looks at himself as a well drilled coach that wants to defend and keep clean sheets.

“He’s a manager that would maybe suit the Liverpool style, on the front foot, wanting to score goals, wanting to play attractive football, has a certain way of playing the game, but also wants to be a real nut to crack as well.

“He wants to keep clean sheets, he wants to win things, he’s had a very successful season with Feyenoord.

“Liverpool have known about Jurgen’s decision for such a long time and I don’t think they will be looking now to find a manager. I think things will have been done weeks and months ago. It’s a long process.

“They knew Jurgen was on his way and when Jurgen leaves it will be an incredible loss but, for the future of the club, there are going to be big decisions on players.

“Is the manager going to come in and is he going to be happy with the dressing room? Players talk about it, “Should we have him? Should we have him?”, but Arne Slot is a proven manager.

“He’s shown that he can handle a big club, Feyenoord is a big club in Holland, and fingers crossed whoever comes in can keep key players because Liverpool don’t want to be in that transition mode where we start losing key players as well as Jurgen Klopp.

“Whoever comes in to follow Jurgen Klopp is going to have a difficult role, but whoever comes in has to go and take the role on, do it his way and hopefully there are successful times ahead for the club.”

Regardless of whether Slot is appointed or not, Spearing is looking forward to working with the next Liverpool manager, while he has been impressed on the recent appointments of Michael Edwards, as FSG’s CEO of Football, and Richard Hughes as the Reds’ new sporting director.

“I think it’s a good sign that Liverpool have reappointed Michael Edwards and obviously Richard Hughes as the sporting director,’ he said. “They’re two big appointments and you can see that the club want to sort out the backroom before they go and come forward.

“Whoever comes in (as manager), it will be an absolute privilege to work under. It’s been an incredible 18 months to two years for me to work under Jurgen Klopp and Pepijn Lijnders.

“The access that we’ve had to them has been incredible. I’ve loved every single minute of it. But whoever comes in, it will be a new challenge, a fresh challenge, but also a new learning time for me.

“As well as it being disappointing to see Jurgen leave, it’s a really exciting time for the club, a new start and new way of going forward hopefully.”