Arne Slot has pledged to "fight on" as Liverpool manager following discussions with the club's senior leadership after the disappointing loss to PSV Eindhoven.
The 4-1 Champions League reverse on Wednesday has left the Merseyside club enduring its poorest spell of results in more than seven decades. Having begun their Premier League campaign with five consecutive victories – and opening their season, following the Community Shield loss to Crystal Palace, with seven wins – Slot's players then suffered four successive defeats and have struggled to regain momentum since.
The Dutch manager now finds himself under significant pressure to reverse the decline, with his side languishing in 12th place domestically and 13th in the Champions League.
When speaking to journalists on Thursday, Slot committed to continuing in his role, though this hasn't prevented widespread speculation about potential successors should he leave Anfield in the near future.
Bookmakers have installed Jurgen Klopp as the favorite to return, the German having departed the club last year following a successful tenure that included Champions League glory in 2019 and delivering Liverpool's first league championship in three decades the following season.
Responding to the speculation in German newspaper BILD, journalist Marcel Reif made the dramatic assertion: "Liverpool isn't just in a mess. It's practically burned to the ground!
Klopp left Liverpool last summer after nearly nine years in charge
Klopp left Liverpool last summer after nearly nine years in charge (Image: Getty Images)
"The timing of this statement (Klopp on Diary of a CEO) is terrible for Slot. He's hovering over Anfield like a UFO. All of Liverpool would carry him back on their shoulders. And it would be negligent if they didn't try to bring Klopp back.
"In Liverpool, the scar from his departure is far from healed. I don't know what it's like being Global Head of Soccer and whether you ever start to wonder, 'Is this really me?'
"He was exhausted after that time. It took its toll. Now he looks very rested. Almost as if Arne Slot has to watch out..."
Reif's remarks follow Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness suggesting that Klopp won't stay in his Red Bull position indefinitely.
"I could never imagine him as an official travelling around the country, to New York, looking after the various teams," he said via BILD. "And I don't think that will be a good model in the long run. I also don't think he'll do that forever, I can't imagine it.
"I have always admired Jurgen Klopp as a coach who is on the pitch, who develops a team, who moves a team forward with his personality. I see Jurgen Klopp on the pitch and nowhere else."
Since departing Anfield, Klopp has assumed responsibilities as head of global football with the Red Bull organisation and taken up an advisory position with the German Football League. During a recent interview on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast, he acknowledged that a return to Liverpool remains "theoretically possible."
"I said I will never coach another team, a different team, in England," he said. "So that means if then it's Liverpool... yeah. Theoretically, it's possible."