Jurgen Klopp apologised to Liverpool fans after their chastening derby defeat to Everton as he admitted his team need a “crisis” at Arsenal and Manchester City to have any hope of winning the title.

Liverpool were beaten at Goodison Park for the first time in nearly 14 years as Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin punished some dreadful defending.

It leaves Klopp’s side three points behind leaders Arsenal, who have a superior goal difference, with just four matches left to play. Third-placed City are a point behind Liverpool with two games in hand.

“I really feel for the people. I am really sorry for that,” Klopp said.

“People told me so often what a great record we have in the derby. We never lost here before and it feels really different. I really apologise for that. It was unnecessary but it happened.

“I have no good thoughts at all. Very disappointed and frustrated. It was not good enough. We let the game happen the way Everton wanted. They scored two goals from set-pieces.

“The first one we defended somehow three times but in the end we put it on a plate, Branthwaite didn’t even kick the ball properly but it rolled over the line. After that we had our best period, putting them under pressure, creating big chances but we didn’t score.

“Each situation we missed gave Everton even more momentum. We never had it and that didn’t help. Second half it was not good enough without the real pressure phase like we had at the end of the first half.

“Then we conceded a second goal and I think everyone with Everton saw that goal already 20 times. Everyone knows their routine, they put the ball there, but he was completely free. I didn’t see it back but I’m pretty sure we could have defended it better. It was not the most inspired performance of all time.”

Klopp converses with Darwin Nunez, who missed a golden chance to get on the scoresheet for Liverpool (Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

Asked for his thoughts on the title race, Klopp added: “I understand it, but you can all read the table. Do I say now we are still fully in?

“We need a crisis at City and Arsenal and we need to win football games. If they start losing all their games and we do what we did tonight then nothing will change and we’re not safe in the Champions League (places) either.

“We should just play better football. You can see we are in a rush in front of the goal. You cannot act like you have scored 15 goals in the last two games. You have to fight through these periods.

“People ask me about mentality but it has different aspects. It is not a problem of attitude or whether the boys want it. No one is doing anything like that on purpose. It is my job to bring them into a situation where they feel confident to do it. That is the most tricky part of football. I am responsible. In the moment it didn’t work out. We have to keep trying.”

Klopp must now lift his players with Liverpool back in action on Saturday in the lunchtime kick-off away to West Ham.

“We have to recover as a quick turnaround is waiting for us,” he said.

“It will be a challenge both mentally and physically. Probably West Ham is waiting and rubbing their hands and hoping we come there on one leg, but I will try absolutely everything to make sure we are much more ourselves there.

“I would prefer to be sitting here winning 4-0 and flying. The job is to win football games and the more you win the more successful you are and in the moment we didn’t win enough to get anything out of the season yet. We should better start winning.”

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The Briefing: Everton 2 Liverpool 0 - Klopp's first-ever Goodison defeat all but ends title dream

(Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

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Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk questioned whether his teammates “really want to win the league” after their 2-0 defeat to Everton on Wednesday night left their Premier League title hopes hanging in the balance.

Goals either side of half-time from Jarrad Branthwaite and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were enough to seal Everton’s first Merseyside derby win at Goodison Park since 2010.

The defeat leaves Jurgen Klopp’s side second in table, three points behind league leaders Arsenal and a point clear of Manchester City, who play the first of their two games in hand against Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday.

Van Dijk said Liverpool “have no chance to win the title” if they fail to show more effort in their four remaining fixtures.

“I’m very disappointed, in so many ways,” he told Sky Sports.

“I think everyone needs to take a look in the mirror and look at their own performance if they really gave everything and if they really want to win the league.

“Obviously, we are still fighting and we have games after tonight but if we played overall like we did today — not winning challenges — then we have no chance to win the title.”

Jurgen Klopp, meanwhile, admitted his side need “a crisis” at Arsenal and Man City to stand any chance of remaining in the hunt for the title.

Asked for his thoughts on the title race, Klopp said: “I understand it, but you can all read the table. Do I say now we are still fully in?

“We need a crisis at City and Arsenal and we need to win football games. If they start losing all their games and we do what we did tonight then nothing will change and we’re not safe in the Champions League (places) either.”

Liverpool are next in action against West Ham United on Saturday.

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The Briefing: Everton 2 Liverpool 0 - Klopp's first-ever Goodison defeat all but ends title dream

 (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

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The transfer window for players will open when the season ends but the movement of managers has no deadline — anyone can switch roles at any point.

Jurgen Klopp’s announcement in January that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season after nine years at Anfield kicked off speculation over who would replace him.

Soon after, Xavi said he would be stepping down as Barcelona head coach this summer before Bayern Munich joined the party in February by confirming they would be parting ways with Thomas Tuchel, leaving three of the biggest jobs in European football open for applications. A disappointing season for Manchester United, meanwhile, has also led to questions over Erik ten Hag’s future and a potential vacancy at Old Trafford.

So who are the managers expected to be on the move in the coming months and who is staying put?

Get the latest transfer news on The Athletic…

Arne Slot

Liverpool have had an opening offer of €9million (£7.7m, $9.6m) for Slot turned down by Feyenoord.

The 45-year-old is their preferred candidate to succeed Klopp but they have prioritised discretion as they enter negotiations with the Dutch club and their highly-regarded CEO, Dennis te Kloese. Slot’s contract runs until 2026 but he is keen on a move to Anfield.

Slot helped Feyenoord win the Eredivisie title in 2023 and reach the Europa Conference League final in 2022. This season, he has guided them to their first KNVB Cup (Dutch FA Cup) triumph since 2018.

(Olaf Kraak/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Slot, who is from the Netherlands, has met the key criteria Liverpool have set out in their search for a new manager, with a record of playing attacking football and developing young talent.

The Athletic’s Mark Carey says: “The data of Slot’s Feyenoord team points to an aggressive, dominant style of play that is ideally suited to Liverpool’s squad.”

Ruben Amorim

The Sporting Lisbon head coach was in London this week for talks with West Ham United despite David Moyes still being in charge at the east London club.

Moyes, 60, is out of contract this summer and though he said in February he was offered a new deal, his future remains uncertain.

However, Amorim is not expected to join West Ham. Following the meeting, he is believed to feel a move there is not for him.

Amorim had also been in Liverpool’s thinking for the summer, but their preferred candidate to replace Klopp is Slot.

The 39-year-old Amorim won the Portuguese league title with Sporting in 2021 and is known for promoting young players and improving individuals.

Julen Lopetegui

The 57-year-old is out of work having left Wolverhampton Wanderers days before the Premier League season started, to be replaced by Gary O’Neil.

The former Spain men’s national team, Sevilla and Real Madrid head coach is another to have been assessed by West Ham, and with it thought Amorim is unlikely to join, that brings Lopetegui and others firmly into the mix.

Lopetegui’s exit from Wolves last summer came after speaking about the financial issues at the club.

Ralf Rangnick

The Austria manager confirmed on April 24 that he had held talks with Bayern to replace Tuchel as their head coach.

Speaking to Austrian outlet 90minuten, Rangnick said: “Bayern Munich have contacted me and I have also informed the OFB (Austrian Football Association). We have a very trusting relationship. My focus is on the Austrian national team.”

The 65-year-old, who was Manchester United’s interim manager in 2021-22 for seven months, is due to lead his Austria side in the upcoming European Championship this summer.

When Rangnick was asked at what point he may consider a switch of roles, he added: “The moment Bayern would say, ‘We want you’. And then I have to ask myself, ‘Do I even want this?’. If I want to do something else, I will first discuss it with the OFB.”

Despite his time at United ending in failure, Rangnick has previously been successful as a director of football at Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig among other roles.

Xabi Alonso (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

The former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder ended Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga dominance by winning the title with Bayer Leverkusen this month and is one of the most in-demand coaches in Europe.

But Alonso said “(Leverkusen) is the right place for me” in late March and confirmed he would stay at to take them into the Champions League next season.

Liverpool were aware the 42-year-old was unlikely to leave Leverkusen as they searched for a Klopp successor, while Bayern also considered their former player to take over from outgoing manager Tuchel.

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Julian Nagelsmann

The Germany head coach had been linked with a return to Bayern Munich, and last summer had attracted interest from Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain.

However, on April 19, he signed a contract extension with the national team to remain in charge until after the 2026 World Cup.

Nagelsmann won the Bundesliga with Bayern in 2022 and reached the DFB-Pokal final in 2021 with Leipzig as well as taking them to the Champions League semi-finals, but will now lead the Germany men’s side for the next two years, having taken over from Hansi Flick on a short-term deal in September 2023.

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Unai Emery

The Spaniard delighted Aston Villa’s supporters — and owners — when he extended his contract this week.

The former Arsenal, Sevilla and Villarreal head coach, a four-time winner of the Europa League, has turned around the fortunes of Villa since taking over from Steven Gerrard in November 2022.

Villa are in the Europa Conference League semi-finals and look set to finish in the Premier League top four, which would secure a Champions League spot.

Emery had been linked with several vacancies but will now discuss extending his deal with the club further when he meets with Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens in the summer.

The Athletic’s Villa reporter Jacob Tanswell said: “The club has been built and directed in Emery’s image, affording the type of power and environment geared towards his management style. It is why it was always unlikely he would be tempted by reported interest in him this summer.”

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Thomas Tuchel (S Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images)

Tuchel will leave Bayern at the end of the season after being the first of their managers to fail to win the Bundesliga for 12 years. Tuchel has paid the price of Alonso’s Leverkusen, who ended Bayern’s run of 11 titles in a row.

This year, Tuchel discussed the possibility of managing in Spain — with Barcelona looking for a successor to Xavi — at a supporters’ club in Munich and the reporting of his quotes led Bayern to issue a statement. “He (Tuchel) answered general questions from fans about Spain as a footballing country,” it read. “He never spoke about Xavi and his successor, as was falsely claimed afterwards.”

However, Tuchel is no longer on Barca’s shortlist. There were concerns about the performances towards the end of his roles at Chelsea and PSG, while finances were also a worry for Barcelona. They are now focused on retaining the services of Xavi.

Manchester United would strongly appeal to Tuchel if Erik ten Hag were to leave.

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Erik ten Hag (Getty Images)

Scraping past Championship club Coventry City on penalties assured Ten Hag of a second consecutive FA Cup final appearance — but it will not necessarily guarantee his future at Old Trafford.

Ten Hag’s position has been questioned after a series of disappointing results and performances, but he said on April 6 he had “no doubts” he will be in charge next season. However, that was before losing a three-goal lead at Wembley in the semi-final and being a VAR call away from his side being eliminated — and all of this was played out in front of United co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer, as well as new technical director Jason Wilcox.

INEOS taking a minority stake in the club has only heightened speculation over Ten Hag’s future, with the company’s chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe and director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford to decide on the 54-year-old after this campaign has ended.

Ten Hag can still end the season with a trophy if they do what they failed to do last year: beat neighbours Manchester City in the final. But an absence of Champions League football — and having finished bottom of their Champions League group this season — will not sit in his favour.

Roberto De Zerbi (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

The Italian took Brighton into Europe for the first time this season after a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League last year.

This success led to De Zerbi being linked with vacancies at Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern. However, senior sources at Brighton — who were granted anonymity to protect relationships — believe he is now more likely to stay, with two years remaining on his contract.

De Zerbi fuelled discussion about his future in late March by saying he wants to speak with Brighton’s decision-makers to ensure he and the club are still behind the “same plan for the future”.

Liverpool found De Zerbi scored highly on the data produced by their analysts but his confrontational style, as shown in his comments above, could work against him in the eyes of executives at higher-profile clubs.

Additional reporting: Dan Sheldon, James Pearce, Adam Crafton, Andy Naylor, Pol Ballus, Mark Critchley, David Ornstein

(Top photos: Emilio Andreoli; Paolo Bruno; Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

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The Premier League is heading towards another contentious vote on Monday with a majority of clubs keen to add a hard spending cap to the new “squad cost” rules that are being introduced for the 2025-26 season.

Based on the concept of “anchoring”, the de facto salary cap would limit the amount of money any club can invest in their squads by tying it to a multiple of what the lowest earners get from the league’s centralised broadcast and commercial deals.

Earlier this month, the clubs unanimously backed a proposal to progress talks on the squad cost regime, with a view to finalising the new rules at June’s annual general meeting. Since then, the league has sent out proposals on anchoring and scheduled a meeting on the matter for Thursday.

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The plan is then to ask the clubs to back the idea in principle at another meeting of the league’s shareholders — the 20 clubs and the Football Association — on Monday.

When the idea was first suggested last year, the top-to-bottom multiple its backers had in mind was 4.5 but, with several clubs strongly opposed to the cap, the league is now suggesting a looser multiple of five.

The hope is that the cap will operate as a backstop to the more fluid squad cost rule, which ties the amount clubs can spend to their own revenues, and raising the multiple should placate the idea’s biggest critics.

However, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United have already expressed their concerns about the idea, pointing out it is potentially a breach of UK competition law.

What will it look like?

If anchoring was in effect last season, the cap would have been £518million, five times the £103.6m that Southampton, who finished 20th, earned in centralised revenues, with Chelsea spending more than that on wages, amortised transfer fees and payments to agents, with Manchester City not far behind.

Unsurprisingly, the idea is far more popular with clubs further down the revenue table. They see it as a way to stop the league’s biggest earners from being able to outspend them at an ever-expanding rate. Without it, they fear the league’s already fragile competitive balance would be further eroded.

The move could be viewed as a boost for other leagues looking to close the gap on the Premier League, although rivals such as La Liga in Spain already employ their own bespoke spending cap regime.

This model though is the first tying a club’s spending to another club’s revenue with other iterations of financial fair play (FFP) rules based on a club’s own revenue.

Who will be against it?

The debate on anchoring will not just be a replay of the haves versus have-lesses rows that have dogged football for years, as it must also involve the group of stakeholders perhaps most affected by the proposal: the players.

Any move to set a ceiling on how much money an employer can pay their employees — particularly one not based on that employer’s ability or desire to pay their own staff — is always going to attract the interest of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), the players’ trade union.

For example, when the English Football League tried to apply a soft salary cap in the Championship at the start of the pandemic, the PFA successfully blocked it.

However, that was because the EFL had failed to properly consult with the union before proposing the cap. For anchoring — or the squad cost rule, for that matter — to have any chance of being introduced, the league knows it must be approved by the Professional Football Negotiating and Consultative Committee, the body that brings the union, the EFL, FA and Premier League together to discuss matters relating to the employment of players.

All that is for the future, though, as the first hurdle that anchoring must clear is finding sufficient support within the Premier League, where a two-thirds (14-6) majority of the clubs is needed to change the rulebook.

The recent rows over the league’s financial distribution offer to the rest of the pyramid and its rules on associated-party transactions have shown how hard it can be to clear that hurdle, with the 20 clubs less united on a whole range of issues than at any time in the last 30 years.

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(Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)

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This is an updated version of an article first published in 2022

Nine months ago, Liverpool paid £60million for midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig, a key part of the succession plan to revitalise their ageing midfield.

It reflects one of football’s curiosities that they offered less than seven times that sum in an attempt to replace the most important figure in the club’s recent history.

Today (Wednesday), The Athletic reported that Liverpool have begun negotiations with Feyenoord for manager Arne Slot to take over from Jurgen Klopp. The 2022-23 Eredivisie champions knocked back an opening offer of €9million (£7.7m, $9.6m).

It remains to be seen what any final figure will be if Liverpool get their man, but the disparity is not unique to this deal.

In 2022, Chelsea paid Brighton & Hove Albion £55million ($63.6m) for their left-back Marc Cucurella. The following month, they paid the same club less than half that (£22million) for their manager Graham Potter, the man charged with leading a bright new age at Stamford Bridge under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium.

A few months before that, Aston Villa paid £26million for Sevilla’s Brazilian defender Diego Carlos. Villa returned to La Liga soon after to make a more significant capture: hiring manager Unai Emery from Villarreal. This time, they paid the Spanish club £5.2million in compensation.

The figure Chelsea paid for Potter exceeded the £17.2m Bayern Munich paid RB Leipzig for Julian Nagelsmann when he became their head coach in 2021.

All three managers had strong reputations and detailed CVs, and headed up big jobs — so why were they so much cheaper to secure than most elite players? Why do clubs take and lose managers for much smaller fees than those commanded by the 25-or-so footballers they are entrusted with leading and improving?

The Athletic asked the experts what this all says about value for managers and players.

Although a head coach can have far more influence than a single player, it is perhaps over-simplifying things to conflate the two.

Sasha Ryazantsev is Everton’s former chief finance and commercial officer. He was also on the board of directors at Goodison until 2021 and while he believes the manager is the most important person at a club, he feels there is a “fundamental difference” between their value and that of a player.

Initially, there is the issue of reciprocity. “Clubs would love to have a release clause for a manager,” he says, “but any manager, or his agent, worth their salt would demand a reciprocal amount to be payable to him, should he be let go.

“Since it is far more likely that the club would sack the manager than him going himself, clubs prefer to keep any release clause as low as possible. Sometimes, the fee can be clearly stipulated in the contract and sometimes it has to be negotiated. If the release clause is subject to negotiation, then a good starting point would be the manager’s termination clause.

“In cases when that is not clear, it could be the remaining value of the contract, which can be quite expensive if the manager has just signed a new one.”

Szoboszlai cost more than seven times what Liverpool have offered for Klopp’s replacement (Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

There is another fundamental difference between players and managers when it comes to registration rights with UEFA. Clubs can only field players registered to them by European football’s governing body, whereas the manager’s registration rights do not exist.

That means that, unlike managers, players cannot be sacked before the end of their contracts, nor can they walk away from one because they would be unable to play for another club without registration.

It is these registration rights that transfer fees actually pay for.

Then there is the matter of the differences in resale value. “For the buying club, it is difficult to justify paying a significant ‘transfer fee’ for a manager,” says Ryazantsev. “If a player proves to be a flop, he can often be sold at least at a residual value.

“With the manager, the fee you are paying is likely never to be reimbursed by another club, as again, you are more likely to sack the manager than the manager being poached by another club in the future.”

The traditional structure of buying and selling players, via transfer windows, is another key issue affecting different values.

“With players, the selling club typically has quite a bit of time to put them in the shop window and prepare a deal for the transfer window,” adds Ryazantsev. “Then they can try to play two or more buying clubs off each other in a ‘competitive auction’.

“With the managers, there is no such thing. Once he wants to leave and has an offer from a buying club, it’s often during the height of the season and the club would rather take any money quickly than have a manager on their hands not focusing fully on the job.”

Ryazantsev also outlines some advantages in manager value versus players for clubs trying to shift highly paid and underperforming stars.

“Player transfer value drops over time and trends to zero — it can even be below zero for those on high wages still in contract and unwanted by current clubs — think of all those loan deals when the old club continues to pay some of the player’s wages. That’s essentially a negative ‘transfer fee’.

“On the contrary, the manager’s value can go up or down and does not depend on his age.”

When it comes to the crunch, some clubs can refuse to entertain a player’s interest in leaving until, and if, it suits them. They are ordered to get their heads down — to focus on training and playing.

But when a manager publicly acknowledges his interest in going elsewhere, it is different.

“At that stage, the trust can be broken,” explains Tim Keech, co-founder of MRKT Insights, which provides football consultancy to professional clubs in England and further afield.

“It’s much harder for clubs to say no when the manager has said, ‘I want to speak to this club’. From owner to sporting director to manager, they often have a very intense relationship. The bond of trust is impacted.

“Even then, if the club taking their manager quibbles over any compensation demand, it usually just goes down to negotiation.

“But with a player, it’s different. Say a club asks for £50million for someone. They may think it would cost them £30million to replace the player, and then there’s a £20million premium on top of that for losing that player.”

Not every transfer happens and Keech feels the damage done by an unsettled manager can be worse than a solitary disgruntled player.

“The average time a manager stays at a club is 15 months,” he says. “To demand higher fees for their managers, clubs would have to give them longer contracts and that brings more risk for what still wouldn’t reach the money you’d get for a top player.”

Salaries for modern-day managers do not lag behind players — although few earn significantly more. Keech says that in the Premier League, managers tend to have the equivalent wages of the squad’s highest earner.

“Managers earn good money,” he adds. “Maybe not as relatively high as senior people in other sectors. The head person at Google will usually earn far more than most employees — but managers do have that extra flexibility when bigger clubs come calling.

“There is an understanding generally in football that you should not really stand in the way of opportunity.”

Although resistant to the idea of losing Potter, Brighton eventually accepted his departure — in a sense, this is part of football’s food chain — while holding out for a high compensation figure.

Individual sponsorship deals for players can also add value to clubs, but that level of profile is rare among managers.

“Barcelona lost €70million in one sponsorship deal when Lionel Messi left,” says Dr Matthew Hindmarsh, a senior lecturer in sports business with media at Liverpool John Moores University.

“Top players have their own endorsements with brands and when they are at a club, it can attract more attention and other deals to their clubs. So when they are faced with selling them, they ask for higher fees to compensate for it.

“Players are also rarer commodities because they have a short career compared to a manager. A player might be in their prime for five years whereas a manager can be for 20.

“Then there’s the transfer window, which often influences how much clubs pay for players as a knee-jerk reaction. There is no window for managers.”

It might seem like a curiously large gap between player transfer fees and managerial compensation, but the absence of managers complaining about it perhaps underlines a status quo that suits everyone.

(Top photo: NESimages/Geert van Erven/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

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Liverpool have had an opening offer for Arne Slot rejected after making the Feyenoord head coach their preferred choice to succeed Jurgen Klopp.

The Anfield club’s pursuit of Slot did not emerge until earlier this week as they prioritised discretion and a desire to show Feyenoord respect before Sunday’s Dutch Cup final, which they won.

That approach is sure to be maintained as Liverpool enter negotiations with the 2023 Eredivisie champions and their highly-regarded CEO Dennis te Kloese with the club knocking back an opening offer of €9million (£7.7m, $9.6m).

Liverpool are also in contact with Slot, who is enthusiastic about the possibility of moving to Merseyside.

The club are conducting a thorough process and will continue to assess other candidates, although Slot is the focus of their attention at present having emerged as the leading contender.

Klopp announced in January he would be leaving the club at the end of the season after nine years.

Slot helped guide Feyenoord to just a second Eredivisie title in 20 years last season and has the side second in the table at present.

Liverpool started the head coach search back in November with Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football Michael Edwards and new sporting director Richard Hughes now leading the process.

Slot’s attacking style of play and track record of developing young talent match the criteria set out by the club with Xabi Alonso of Bayer Leverkusen and Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim among those also considered.

Slot, who turned down Tottenham Hotspur last year, has no release clause in his current contract that runs until 2026.

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(Maurice Van Steen/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

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