Liverpool ‘decide’ Slot will be sacked with Gerrard ‘ready to take job’ on short-term deal

Liverpool boss Arne Slot will not be the manager next season as the Reds decide to go in a different direction after their defeat to Bournemouth, according to reports.

The Reds were undone in the final seconds of their match against the Cherries on Saturday with Amine Adli scoring in the fifth minute of injury time to condemn Liverpool to their seventh Premier League loss of the season.

Slot is now coming under pressure from the fans and Liverpool hierarchy to turn results around with the Reds slipping into fifth, below arch-rivals Manchester United in the Premier League table .

There have already been rumours that Liverpool are reluctant to sack Slot in the middle of the season and would prefer to wait until the end of the campaign to replace him.

And now a reliable transfer account on X made up of ‘five elite reporters’ and 706k followers has claimed that Liverpool ‘has decided Arne Slot will not be the manager next season, with certain senior players expressing concerns to senior officials’.

The account adds: ‘Steven Gerrard is ready to take the job on a short-term contract if asked, and meetings have already taken place.’

After watching Liverpool, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville insists the Reds are not in a transition season and have gone “soft” under Slot.

Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast : “I watched the Liverpool game and I always think when you win a league title that you have a lot of credit in the bank and it takes a lot to erode, it’s a hard thing to do.

“Arne Slot has won that title with that group of players last season. I’ve heard a couple of interviews in the past week from Liverpool people, including the manager, and it was always going to be a transition season. Forget that, I’m not listening to that.

“You’re £450 million spent in the summer on all those players was the season you were going to win back-to-back titles. Let’s not rewrite history on what everyone was saying in the summer, including non-Liverpool people. I’m not saying Liverpool people or fans were getting carried away.

“But there was definitely a feeling Ekitike, Wirtz, Isak, Frimpong, Kerkez wasn’t a transition season transfer window, it was adding to a very stable squad of champions; with the likes of Salah and Van Dijk re-signed, with the likes of Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Konate and Alisson. This wasn’t a rebuild, I’ve heard transition mentioned a couple of times this week, I’m not hearing that at all. You can’t rewrite history.”

Neville added: “I have to say, the first time watching them, they looked a little bit soft. Virgil van Dijk is a giant but at the end he got nudged off the ball. The [second] goal when [Joe] Gomez was off the pitch, it’s soft this idea you can’t defend with 10 men and the ball gets played inside Kerkez we’ve seen how many times this season. There’s a softness to them.

“Last season, we couldn’t praise you any more and for the first few months, I’ve been hanging back. They’ve had injuries, had issues, lost their directness up top quite a bit. Diogo Jota, God rest his soul, and Luis Diaz were direct players and would go for defenders. They’ve become a bit nice and last season they were cutting. They have lost sharpness in their attacks and have gone soft in terms of defending.

“Liverpool have got to sort themselves out because Manchester United have just gone above them. I’m not saying Manchester United will finish above them, I thought a week or two ago they wouldn’t but maybe I’ll be thinking that, maybe Liverpool’s players and Manchester United’s players will think that.”