Slot Sacked, But Who Will Be The Next Liverpool Manager? | OneFootball

Arne Slot was dealt a miserable hand for the 2025-2026 Premier League season. From the moment that Diogo Jota’s death was confirmed, it was always destined to be an odd campaign for the Reds and that is exactly the way it transpired. Add in the number of injuries suffered and the poorly balanced squad he was given to work with and the disaster that was the entire season makes sense.

Thankfully, the Dutchman showed much more class in his open letter in the Liverpool Echo than a good number of supporters showed towards him over the course of the past 11 months or so. Regardless, he’s gone, so what’s next for Liverpool?

Iraola the Red Hot Favourite

AFC Bournemouth, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Try to place a bet on the odds of the next permanent Liverpool manager and you will see that you can’t, thanks to the fact that the majority of bookmakers have decided that Andoni Iraola, the former Bournemouth manager, is as close to being a nailed-on choice as it gets. On the one hand, it feels like an appointment that is very on-brand for Fenway Sports Group. Iraola has Premier League experience and impressed with the south coast club after losing his entire backline at the start of the season and having to cope with countless first-time injuries as it wore on. He is young, fresh and looks like he’s on the verge of breaking out.

On the other hand, the 18-game unbeaten run that Iraola has been praised for was actually a run in which the Cherries achieved just four wins since the start of February. Similarly, they won just three home games from November onwards, which is far from the sort of form that you would imagine a team like Liverpool would be looking for. Does he have what it takes to come into Anfield and turn the Reds back into being title contenders? It is difficult to say for sure, but there are certainly many who think he’s exactly the right man for the job. Given the confidence of the bookies that he’s going to get it, we better hope that they’re right.

Any Other Contenders?

Perhaps the name that most Liverpool supporters would love to hear linked with the club in the coming hours and days is that of Luis Enrique. Having won La Liga twice with Barcelona and Ligue 1 three times with Paris Saint-Germain, the German coach also won the Champions League once with Spain and twice with PSG. We have seen up close just how devastating his current side can be in an attacking sense, but it is worth bearing in mind that he hasn’t really had to be too worried about competition from other teams in the French league, as well as the fact that Qatar Sports Investments won’t be willing to let him leave the club easily.

Sebastian Hoeneß is another name being linked with the job, having impressed at VfB Stuttgart and has a reputation for developing young talent. With one of the apparent criticisms levelled at Arne Slot being his unwillingness to turn to the Academy, that could be just what FSG want to hear. RC Lens’s boss Pierre Sage is also being considered, although Crystal Palace is a more likely destination for him. Whoever it is that ends up in the Anfield hot seat, it is fair to say that the owners have to get their decision right. The Reds simply can’t afford another season of mediocrity, unless supporters feel as though it is going somewhere long-term.