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Rodgers eyeing job in Spain after Liverpool stint

Brendan Rodgers took over at Liverpool in June 2012 and hopes to be in charge come 2032 © Getty Images

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Brendan Rodgers says that he wants to manage Liverpool for the next 20 years but also hopes to coach in Spain one day.

Rodgers, who took over at Anfield in June 2012, signed a contract in February that commits him to the club until 2018.

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A keen student of coaching methods, Rodgers studied at several Spanish clubs, including Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla and Villarreal, before moving into management himself.

As he prepares to lead Liverpool in their Champions League group match at home to Real Madrid on Wednesday, Rodgers admitted a long-term ambition to work in La Liga.

"I hope one day to work in Spain, I've studied Spanish, but I need to improve," Rodgers told AS. "I'll probably improve when I work in the country one day.

"For most people, when they travel to a country their language becomes better. I speak to the Spanish players that we have in Spanish.

Rodgers cools Valdes interest

Victor Valdes is a free agent after leaving Barcelona © Getty Images

• Brendan Rodgers has dropped a strong hint that he has cooled his interest in goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
  
  Rodgers has been looking at the possibility of a move for Valdes, who can sign for a club outside the transfer window as a free agent, having left Barcelona in the summer.
  
  Any deal would have depended on Valdes proving his fitness, having torn his anterior cruciate knee ligament in March.
  
  But asked by AS if there was a Spanish player coming to the club in the next few months, Rodgers said: "No".
  
  Recent reports falsely suggested that Valdes had turned down an approach from Liverpool because they wanted him to have a four-day trial at the club to prove his fitness.
  
  Valdes' agent Gines Carvajal subsequently denied the story, insisting that there had been no offer of a trial.

"I'm only 41, which is very young, and there are lots of things I want to achieve here at Liverpool.

"It's an incredible club and I hope to be managing here for another 20-odd years. One day I hope it can take me to Spain and I can experience a wonderful country, culture and as I said, some wonderful football clubs."

Rodgers spent time observing Spanish clubs when he started out as a youth coach - initially at Reading - in his early 20s after a knee injury had forced him to give up playing.

He went on to manage Chelsea's youth and reserve sides under Jose Mourinho before moving into senior management in 2008 - first with Watford, then with Reading and Swansea.

"I spent a lot of time in Spain and Holland," Rodgers said. "I was enthused by clubs that had the link and the association from the base through to the top. I also love the Spanish way of football, the domination and control of the ball.

"For me, Spain, Holland and the British mentality put together can be hard to beat. So my feeling was always to make a fusion between them.

"And with time to coach, the key in everything is to improve and making the player happy. It's not really about me or what's on my CV of course. At the end of the day people will measure me for what I have done, but for me the journey is more important than the end."

Rodgers, meanwhile, has backed former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez to be a success at Barcelona.

Suarez - Liverpool's top scorer with 31 Premier League goals last season - left Anfield for La Liga in a £75 million deal on July 16.

He will finally be able to make his Barcelona debut on Saturday, against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, after completing a four-month ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup in June.

"He will succeed," Rodgers added. "He's a big player and he will be a big success at Barcelona. I developed the team around him, when I came to here, and moved Andy Carroll [who went to West Ham].

"I built my team around Luis, and when I came I would hear people say about his finishing but in my two seasons he got 30 goals in the first, 31 in the second. So we helped improve his game and he also helped our team."

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