Liverpool have been told to go after Arne Slot's 'perfect' replacement who would rebuild the Reds, despite his close ties to Premier League rivals Man City.
Arne Slot sack calls grow after PSG cruise past Liverpool
Slot's second season at Liverpool has gone from bad to significantly worse.
Wednesday night's 2-0 defeat at the Parc des Princes extended what has become a deeply troubled campaign, a run that also includes 10 Premier League defeats, the most the club has suffered in a single season since 2015/16.
Frimpong-PSG-Liverpool
Slot made the bold call to start with a back three against PSG, an approach Liverpool had not used under his management before this season, while Mohamed Salah was left on the bench as an unused substitute throughout.
Désiré Doué broke the deadlock with a deflected effort inside the opening quarter of an hour before Kvaratskhelia added a second to give the French champions a deserved advantage.
Liverpool failed to register a single shot on target at any point during the 90 minutes, with fans now increasingly more vocal about sacking Slot amid repeated links to Xabi Alonso.
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Slot himself acknowledged the scale of the defeat afterwards.
He said the game was "more about surviving" in the closing stages and defended the decision to leave Salah unused, stating it made little sense to introduce an attacking player when his side could barely escape their own half.
The PSG result came just days after Liverpool were beaten 4-0 by City in the FA Cup quarter-final, a performance that prompted captain Virgil van Dijk to publicly admit his team-mates "gave up" — a damaging admission that lingered over the week.
Some reports now suggest FSG have already brought forward their end-of-season review of Slot's position.
Liverpool manager Arne Slot reacts during the match
The second leg against PSG at Anfield takes place next Tuesday, with Liverpool needing to score at least twice to have any realistic chance of progressing.
Into this climate comes a fresh name added to the growing list of alternatives being floated publicly.
Liverpool told 'perfect' Enzo Maresca would lead major Anfield rebuild
Marco Materazzi, the former Inter Milan and Italy World Cup winner, has now urged Liverpool to look at Enzo Maresca as the man to bring stability and a clear direction back to Anfield.
Maresca-Chelsea
Speaking to Hajper, via The Metro, Materazzi was assessing where Maresca might end up after his departure from Chelsea in January.
The Italian left Stamford Bridge following reported tensions with the club's hierarchy despite having won the Conference League and the Club World Cup during his time there.
Materazzi ruled out a number of options for Maresca before landing on Liverpool as his preferred destination, despite Maresca's connection to City as a previous assistant to Pep Guardiola.
It is also worth noting that the Sky Blues have been eyeing their former employee as a potential replacement for Pep should he leave this summer, but the Merseysiders have been urged to get in there first.
"I think Liverpool would be the best fit for Enzo Maresca," Materazzi said.
"He is the perfect coach to lead a rebuild at Liverpool to create a new vision for the team."
Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Maresca remains the frontrunner to succeed Guardiola at City if the Spaniard leaves, which would effectively rule him out of any Liverpool conversation.
The strongest candidate to replace Slot remains Alonso, who is currently without a club following his exit from Real Madrid earlier this season and has been constantly tipped for a return to Anfield by multiple sources.
Whether Slot survives beyond the summer depends largely on what happens in the next two months.
A Champions League exit at PSG's hands, combined with a failure to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League, would make his position extremely difficult to defend regardless of who FSG would prefer to bring in as his successor.
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The Reds are believed to be holding discussions.