Athletic Club boss Valverde was weighed up by Liverpool as a replacement for Klopp | OneFootball

Athletic Club head coach Ernesto Valverde was at one point earmarked as a leading candidate to take up the reins at Liverpool this summer.

That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, citing The Athletic, who have confirmed that the Spaniard drew altogether admiring glances from Anfield over the course of recent months.

A change on the bench at Liverpool is of course imminent, with the departing Jürgen Klopp set to be replaced by Feyenoord mastermind Arne Slot.

Amid their extensive managerial search process, though, also making his way onto the radar of the Reds hierarchy was the aforementioned Valverde.

Ex-Barcelona boss Valverde is of course fresh off guiding Athletic Club to a historic Copa del Rey triumph, as well as a commendable 5th-placed finish in La Liga.

And such exploits evidently piqued attentions on Merseyside, with Liverpool, in the case of missing out on Slot, having considered Athletic’s headmaster and Italy national team boss Luciano Spalletti as the two most viable alternatives.

Valverde, for his part, recently put to bed ongoing chatter surrounding his immediate future, in putting pen to paper on a contract extension in the Basque Country through the summer of 2025.

Conor Laird | GSFN