Haise Liverpool, Yamal PSG and more

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Although we’ve heard a lot about names like Xabi Alonso and Roberto De Zerbi, Lens manager Franck Haise has also been linked as one potential outsider for the Liverpool job after his impressive work in Ligue 1.

My understanding is that, yes, there has been interest in him going back a couple of years now, not just from Liverpool but also from other clubs across Europe. Haise has spoken about the Liverpool links publicly and said he’s quite flattered, and that it gives validation to the good work that he and his staff and players have done so far.

I think it’s important, however, to flag up precisely what Haise has achieved, as there’ll be some fans in England whose first response to links with Liverpool might be “who’s he?” and “what’s he achieved?” and I don’t think you can underplay the massive role that he’s played in the restoration of Lens to being one of France’s major clubs once again.

Lens has huge cultural significance to French football, a huge fan-base, and there are a lot of parallels between them and Borussia Dortmund, which perhaps makes sense as him being linked as someone who could follow Jurgen Klopp. Still, in terms of what he’s done on the pitch he’s not had quite the same amount of time with Lens as Klopp had with Dortmund, so he doesn’t have the silverware or European runs to boast.

What Haise has done, though, is ensured Lens got back into the Champions League this season, after finishing just a point behind champions PSG last term, and they’ve never finished lower than 7th under the 52-year-old. They are statistically the most in-form team in France in 2024, so if you bear in mind that he’s done all this with a fraction of the budget of PSG, he has done a phenomenal job.

He keeps improving players as well, if you look at the names the club have sold at a major profit, while he’s also kept the team competitive even after they’ve left, so it’s hard to underplay what a terrific job he’s done, and it’s not gone unnoticed by English clubs, with Brighton looking at him before appointing Roberto De Zerbi to replace Graham Potter.

While I’d expect Haise to continue being on the radar of top clubs around Europe, there might…