The next king of the Kop! Arne Slot is a Guardiola disciple who gets under Mourinho’s skin and his team’s attack relentlessly like Klopp. He ticks EVERY box for Liverpool

In the tunnel of the Stadio Olimpico, Jose Mourinho was respiratory fireplace and wanting for the man who had obtained under his skin.

Mourinho’s Roma aspect had simply overwhelmed Feyenoord on penalties to achieve the quarter-finals of Europa League, final February, however he was in no temper to be gracious. The Portuguese Man of War had a rating to settle with Arne Slot and was decided to say his piece.

Slot, the man who is anticipated to turn into Liverpool’s next king, had lit the blue contact paper in a pre-match press convention. The first leg between the sides had resulted in a 1-1 draw and forward of the return, Slot was requested if he had watched any of Roma’s latest video games to find out about them.

With a wry smile, Slot replied he’d seen “one or two” however made it clear his thought of studying was watching Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. His model of soccer and views on how fluently the recreation ought to be performed are carefully aligned with the Catalan’s, not the prosaic performance of Mourinho.

Being the man that he is, Mourinho was by no means going to let it lie.

‘Hey!’ he shouted when seeing Slot milling round exterior his dressing room. ‘Maybe you should have watched those games – you might know what it takes to be a winner!’

If solely he had stored his mouth closed. Three months later, Slot had turned Feyenoord into Champions of The Netherland for simply the second time in the 21st century, their cost to the title seeing them rack up 11 straight wins after that journey to Rome.

The significance of the triumph shouldn’t be underestimated. There are three enormous golf equipment in The Netherlands however Feyenoord had for lengthy been the poor relation of Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, till Slot introduced them again to the summit. Does that narrative sound acquainted?

To stand any likelihood of succeeding Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool’s next supervisor would require a sure character and Slot, evidently, won’t be discovered wanting with regards to standing up for himself or saying it how he sees it. In many respects, he is related in that approach to the German.

But the next man in cost at Anfield is additionally going to need to win matches – and tons of them – to forestall a post-Klopp hangover from creeping in and there is cause to consider that Slot will do this: one factor for sure is that there gained’t be any Mourinho conservativism.

Two weeks earlier than that recreation in Rome, Feyenood had performed in a KNVB cup tie at house to NEC Nijmegen. Those in the De Kuip stadium had been left flabbergasted by what that they had seen from Slot’s workforce in phrases of relentless attacking.

Remarkably, over 120 minutes, Feyenoord had 50 photographs on objective, 27 of which had been on track. There had been 17 corners, an avalanche of possession. Somehow the recreation completed 4-4 – NEC transformed 4 of their six possibilities on the counter – however the hosts’ progressed through a penalty shootout.

It wasn’t a lot the end result that was notable that night time, extra how Feyenoord had performed. Afterwards, telephones had been buzzing amongst the Rotterdam hierarchy that they felt that they had their very own model of Guardiola. They additionally knew that his progress was not going to go unnoticed.

Around that point, Leeds had been eager to recruit him and their former Director of Football Victor Orta flew into Rotterdam to see if he might do a deal. Feyenoord had been by no means going to entertain, nor was Slot – a married father to a son and daughter – who had grander ambitions than Elland Road.

Opportunities offered themselves once more final summer time. He might have gone to Tottenham, he might have even gone to Chelsea however such was Feyenoord’s dedication to conserving him, Chairman Toon van Bodegom rewarded him with the greatest contract ever given to a supervisor in The Netherlands.

Nobody had been placed on deal of £5million a yr however Slot, they had been adamant, was price each penny. He backed up their religion once more this season, delivering the KNVB Cup final Sunday with a 1-0 win over NEC Nijmegen – a much more managed affair than their earlier assembly.

Slot has a bond with his gamers – Quinten Timber, twin brother of Arsenal defender Justin, has flourished under his steering, as has Slovakian defender David Hancko – that stems from his dedication to enchancment each single day.

‘Feyenoord gamers all the time say: “Everything the trainer predicted, we saw in the game”,’ says one Rotterdam-based supply. ‘Arne is a workaholic. He’s additionally pleased to work with employees and delegate. He has a coach for this, a coach for that, and for that and that and that!

‘They have to feed him with information and then he makes his tactical plan. Feyenoord and Ajax have the biggest fanbases but Slot brought them back to the top. There was Luis Sinisterrra who didn’t work out at first and everybody needed to surrender on him.

‘I don’t know what Slot did however all of a sudden, he was filling his potential. He went to Leeds for £25m, one of Feyenoord’s greatest gross sales ever. Before Slot he might have gone for a nickel and dime! He places perception in gamers. He rebuilt the membership when finest gamers left.’

Critics will argue that Slot’s workforce path PSV in the title race this time round however the irony is they’ve extra factors than at this stage 12 months in the past and lately obliterated Ajax 6-0: PSV, for their half, have been like a runaway practice, with only one defeat and one draw.

All this has been famous by Liverpool. The key requisites for Klopp’s substitute was that he needed to develop gamers, be capable of construct a reference to followers and have a dedication to the membership’s model of play and he ticks all the containers.

It could be flawed to invoice as Klopp 2:0 nevertheless it is simple to see parallels of their respective careers in that they began out at good stable, golf equipment – for Mainz and Klopp, learn AZ Alkmaar and Slot – earlier than going to be grander phases.

Slot, actually, might have gained the title with AZ however his time there resulted in frustration, with the membership’s high brass telling him on Saturday morning he needed to go away instantly after it turned clear he was not going to signal one other contract, amid curiosity from Feyenoord.

‘As a club, we have chosen to say goodbye immediately,” director of football Max Huiberts said in a statement on the club’s web site. ‘We want to have a head coach leading the team who is fully focused on AZ.’ The method of that departure nonetheless rankles Slot.

How will it finish in Rotterdam? That stays to be seen however the finish, seemingly, might occur very quickly. Liverpool made contact with Feyenoord on Wednesday morning and the intention is for getting the deal completed as shortly as potential, as soon as a compensation package deal might be resolved.

Then Slot shall be clear to start out a new chapter, for him and for his new membership. One factor is for sure: as proven with the episode with Mourinho, he gained’t shrink back from the battle.