A second candidate has rejected the chance to take over from Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager this summer and a new favourite has emerged.
Klopp made a shock announcement at the beginning of the year confirming that he would step down as manager of Liverpool at the end of the season because he was 'running out of energy'.
Ever since speculation has been rife about who will replace him and take on the enormous task of emulating his success at Anfield.
The early favourite was former Liverpool player and highly rated Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso.
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In his first full season as a manager Alonso has guided Leverkusen to an historic Bundesliga victory and it was expected he would move to one of Europe's biggest clubs.
However, he has now chosen to stay with the German club for at least another year forcing the Reds to look elsewhere.
Having explored several alternatives is appeared that Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi was the preferred candidate having guided Inter to the Champions League final last season.
But according to their chairman Steven Zhang, Inzaghi will not be heading to Merseyside, as reported by journalist Fabrizio Romano.
"There’s no doubt at all, we will continue together," Zhang said. "He’s an excellent coach. Inzaghi will stay as key part of our project."
It will be another blow to Liverpool as they continue their search for a replacement. They won't want to leave it to long to decide on Klopp's successor ahead of a big summer for the club in the transfer market.
The new number one candidate now appears to be Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim.
As per TeamTalk a clause in his contract means he would be available to Liverpool for just £8.6m. That isn't bad for a manager who is held in such high regard.
He's won several major trophies whilst in charge of the Lisbon club who have produced some top players including Pedro Porro, Nuno Mendes and Matheus Nunes.
Earlier this month Amorim denied reports that he has agreed to leave Sporting for Liverpool ahead of next season.
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Sporting CP, Sporting Lisbon, Xabi Alonso, Premier League
Will Evans