• Premier League

Liverpool job could tempt De Boer

Ajax manager Frank De Boer is open to taking charge at Liverpool next summer if Brendan Rodgers leaves the club, according to his twin brother Ronald.

Rodgers, who led Liverpool to second place in the Premier League in May, has been unable to match that form this season, with his side lying 10th after Sunday's 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

With the club also eliminated from the Champions League in the last week, former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol has suggested that the manager's job is in danger. Defender Kolo Toure said it was "crazy" to speculate about the future of the manager, who retains the support of American owners Fenway Sports Group.

But De Boer, 44, has been a candidate for the Liverpool job in the past, having rejected an approach in 2012 before Rodgers was appointed.

Asked if the Liverpool job was a possibility, his brother Ronald told Fox Sports: "Not yet, especially in the winter, but at the end of the season he surely could.

"It's a nice club. If Liverpool come now, he would certainly think about it. He would certainly not close the door immediately, like he did two years ago."

The Ajax boss, who has led the club to the Dutch title in each of his four seasons in charge, said in 2012 that he was not ready to manage Liverpool, having been one of a dozen candidates sounded out by Fenway Sports Group.

He said then: "I am honoured by the request, but I am only just getting started with Ajax."

De Boer, though, told the BBC in February 2014 that he would be interested in managing Liverpool or Tottenham because both clubs were "my cup of tea".

His brother Ronald, who is a youth coach at Ajax, then told Talksport in March that Tottenham had sounded him out two months earlier to replace then-boss Tim Sherwood.

Ajax, like Liverpool, have dropped into the Europa League after they were third in their Champions League group this season. De Boer's side finished behind Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Dutch champions have recovered from losing two of their opening four Eredivisie games to sit second in the table, one point behind PSV.

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