Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool move getting closer
Liverpool are making progress in their talks with first-choice managerial candidate Jurgen Klopp, according to Sky sources.
Klopp is the club's preferred candidate to replace Brendan Rodgers, ahead of former Real Madrid and Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti, and the Reds would like to have him in place by the weekend.
Reporting from Anfield, Sky Sports News HQ's Vinny O'Connor said: "Liverpool aren't there yet. It's a case of 'negotiations ongoing' at the moment. Those talks are progressing well, but there is still some way to go."
Earlier on Tuesday, the former Dortmund manager smiled when asked by a reporter from German newspaper Bild about Liverpool, saying: "There's nothing to say. Neither one [answer] nor the other. I'm going home now."
Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes Klopp would represent "a very good appointment", while another ex-Germany international who played for the Reds, Karl-Heinz Riedle, has praised the 48-year-old's coaching acumen.
If Klopp does take over at Anfield, he is expected to bring his former Dortmund assistant, Bosnian Zeljko Buvac, with him. Buvac is known as 'The Brain' due to his tactical knowledge and Klopp has described him as a "master of every form of training".
The pair have known each other since 1992 when they were team-mates at Mainz. After their playing career, Klopp appointed Buvac as his assistant when he took over at Mainz in 2001.
Klopp could also bring another of his former Dortmund coaches with him. Peter Krawietz, who never played professional football, specialises as a video analyst.
While this week's international break affords Liverpool more time in which to appoint a successor to Rodgers, who was dismissed after Sunday's 1-1 draw at Everton, the club are keen to move quickly.
Klopp, 48, is currently out of work and enjoying a sabbatical following his decision to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season, but he has previously divulged a desire to manage in England and put no timescale on his time away from the game.
In his time at Dortmund, having joined in May 2008, Klopp ended their nine-year wait for a Bundesliga title, winning the German top division in 2011 and in 2012, when they won a league and cup double.
Source: Sky Sports
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