Former Liverpool boss now a leading "candidate" for managerial role after shock sacking

It'll be interesting to asses how Arne Slot is remembered by Liverpool supporters in the future. The Dutchman won the Premier League title during his first year on Merseyside, just the tenth manager to lead the club to a league title. Thus, his name will forever be etched into Liverpool's illustrious history. However, last season was pretty disastrous, given that the Reds lost 20 matches across all competitions for the first time since 1992/93, finishing fifth after one of the meekest title defences the Premier League has ever seen.

Thus, despite all the noise being that Liverpool planned to keep Slot, he was sacked on 30 May, and replaced by Andoni Iraola. Not long after, could the Dutchman be back in work? Well, as reported by Ben Jacobs and Jack Johnson of Talk Sport, Slot has emerged as a candidate to take over as manager of Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League. They add that the 47 year old "is set to prioritise a move within Europe", with Vítor Pereira among those also being considered by Al-Ahli. Nevertheless, could Thursday's chaos at Newcastle land Slot a lucrative new job in the Middle East?

How Newcastle United's sudden managerial change impacts Arne Slot

On Thursday morning, it was widely reported that Eddie Howe is no longer Newcastle United manager. It is still unclear if he has resigned or been sacked. The timing is curious for two reasons. Firstly, the Magpies played a pre-season friendly against Bristol City at Ashton Gate as recently as last night; did he know he was going at that point? More pertinently, Newcastle's season ended 67 days ago, and starts against Liverpool in just 24 days, so if he's been sacked, why now?

What we do know is that Matthias Jaissle will be the man to replace him on Tyneside. After making a name for himself at RB Salzburg, the German has been working as Al-Ahli manager for the last three seasons, leading them to back-to-back Asian Champions League titles. The current Al-Ahli squad contains potential familiar faces such as Édouard Mendy, Roger Ibañez, Merih Demiral, Francisco Trincão and Ivan Toney, while Roberto Firmino spent two seasons there under Jaissle.

Thus, with the new Saudi Pro League season starting in just over a fortnight, the Jeddah-based outfit as frantically searching for a new, high-profile head coach, so could Slot be their man?

Would heading to the Saudi Pro League be a good move for Arne Slot?

This opportunity does appear to be one that Slot is unlikely to take. One of the challenges he faced during his two seasons at Liverpool was that his wife Mirjam and their two teenaged children remained in Rotterdam, rather than moving to England, to not disrupt their education. Thus, the Netherlands national team job, which is vacant and Slot is certainly one of the leading candidates for, would seem a far more viable option.

From a pure career trajectory point of view, is going to the Saudi Pro League a good choice for a coach? We hear a lot about high-profile players joining the league, but not so much about managers. Ange Postecoglou and Bruno Lage are among those to have taken jobs in Saudi Arabia this summer, joining Simone Inzaghi, Christophe Galtier, former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers and others.

But what about those who have gone to Saudi Arabia in recent years and then left? Have any of those gone on to bigger and better things subsequently?

Selected managers who have been in Saudi Arabia future jobs

As a generalisation, when a high-profile manager goes to Saudi Arabia, they essentially disappear off the face of the planet when it comes to returning to Europe and landing another elite-level job. Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is among those who has gone to the Saudi Pro League for a period of time, been sacked and then failed to secure work anywhere else.

There are a few examples where the coach has landed a national team gig, but Nuno Espírito Santo is about the only one to do so at club level. He led Al-Ittihad to the title, before returning to England with Nottingham Forest and then West Ham, but this was more a reflection of his work at Wolves, rather than in the Middle East. We'd be surprised if Evangelos Marinakis and other Forest decision makers were even aware of Nuno's success in Saudi when appointing him, or at least were unlikely to care.

Thus, unless Slot wants to be paid an exorbitant amount of money, he should not seriously consider this potential Al-Ahli offer, with the Dutch national team a much more likely landing spot.

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