Liverpool legend Ian Rush thinks Graeme Souness is as good as Jurgen Klopp.
The former striker reckons that the Scot would have reached the heights of the current Liverpool boss if he was given more time in the job to learn from his mistakes.
It’s an odd comment to make about a manager who hasn’t been in charge of a club since he was fired by Newcastle United in 2006, and it’s one that’s come out of nowhere.
As reported by Jake Bacon for talkSPORT, Rush thinks that Souness would be talked about in the same way as Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are.
"“He (Souness) changed things too quickly, simple as that. He lost the young players and the old ones by changing things too quickly.“What he did have was the right ideas.”"
Rush has based this judgement call on nothing more than a hunch that the Scot would have been able to learn from his mistakes and because he won trophies with Rangers.
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It’s a bit of an odd defence for a man who A: wasn’t under fire at the moment and B: spent three years at Liverpool not learning from his mistakes, although the team did win an FA Cup under Souness’s leadership.
Anyone who watched the style of football that he implemented, especially during his last role at Newcastle, would be able to come to the conclusion that this was not a man who had the potential to become a force of nature like Klopp, Guardiola or Mourinho.
Except Rush, how continued to praise his old teammate.
"“If Graeme Souness was manager of a team now, he’d be up there with the likes of Klopp, Guardiola and Mourinho because I think he knows he’d made mistakes.“He’d be an absolutely incredible manager if he was managing now.”"
Mourinho isn’t the gaffer he was once, but Klopp and Guardiola are two of the biggest names in the business and have changed the way football is played.
To say that Souness could have been like them with a little more time in the job is a little insulting to the current manager, who quickly proved his prowess under Mainz, confirmed it at Dortmund and went to the next level at Liverpool.
If the Scot had done any of those things at his other jobs, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.