Former Celtic midfielder Paul Slane has tipped Ange Postecoglou to succeed Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp when he decides to leave Anfield.
The 55-year-old has been in charge of the Merseysiders since he replaced Brendan Rodgers in 2015, and he is currently the fourth longest-serving manager in the top-four tiers of English football.
Klopp has enjoyed a hugely successful reign at Anfield and has won a total of six major trophies, including the Premier League and Champions League.
The two-time LMA Manager of the Year recently signed a new long-term contract with Liverpool until the summer of 2026, so Reds supporters should have no concerns of an imminent exit for the German head coach.
However, when the time comes for Klopp to part ways from Anfield, Slane strongly believes that Postecoglou is the ideal candidate to succeed for former Borussia Dortmund boss.
"I think Postecoglou's going to be the next Liverpool manager, I really do," the Scotsman told Grosvenor Sport via the Liverpool Echo. "I think he'll be the next Liverpool manager when Jurgen Klopp decides to go or Liverpool decide to part with him. Who else takes the Liverpool job after Klopp?
"At times in this season's Champions League game against Real Madrid, the European champions, Celtic were unbelievable, so I think Ange Postecoglou is good enough to be the next Liverpool manager. If people think Graham Potter is better than Postecoglou, and he can get the Chelsea job, then they're wrong."
Slane added: "Sadly I think Postecoglou will be too good to stick around at Celtic for the next four or five years.
"He'll want the Premier League, the top teams, the money... I think Ange will want to go and face off against the world's top managers week-in, week-out. So I think it'll be hard for him to stay with Celtic. But come the first game of next season, I think he'll still be managing Celtic."
Postecoglou has recently been linked with a switch to Leicester City, amid uncertainty over Rodgers's future at the King Power Stadium, but the Australian has played down speculation regarding a move to the Premier League.
Speaking to Sky Sports News last week, Postecoglou, said: "It's not really on my radar. I've said to my players and it's the same for me – if they do what they do well, all this other stuff takes care of itself, whatever their or my ambitions may be.
"My ambition has been the same wherever I've been – it's to be as successful as I can be. Right now I'm at a massive football club, living the dream and I am enjoying every minute of it.
"Anyone who has followed my career knows that I'm pretty big on playing the game a certain way. I've tried to do that wherever I've been against the backdrop of knowing I have to be successful.
"I've always tried to play football in a manner that I think excites supporters. Wherever I've been, the question has been 'will it work at the next level?' What I've tried to prove is that it does and it will.
"I am at a really massive football club. We're not playing in one of the high profile European leagues. But in terms of the club itself as an institution, we play in front of 60,000 people. We're in the Champions League, it's a massive club. By having success at Celtic, I'm proud that I'm getting noticed everywhere."
After replacing Neil Lennon as Celtic manager in the summer of 2021, Postecoglou enjoyed a successful first season in charge, helping the Hoops win the Scottish Premiership title and the Scottish League Cup along with securing Champions League group-stage football.
This term, the 57-year-old sees his side sitting two points above Glaswegian rivals Rangers at the top of the Premiership after seven games, while Klopp's Liverpool are down in eighth place in the Premier League, nine points behind leaders Arsenal. body check tags ::