I fear Liverpool will have a decline like Manchester United - they will be nervous

Michael Owen has admitted that he ‘fears’ Liverpool could go into the decline after Jurgen Klopp’s departure.

Klopp has just three games left in the Anfield hot seat before his exit. The German has restored the Reds to the pinnacle of European football since arriving in 2015, winning the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League the following year.

Klopp is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the worlds - perhaps only Pep Guardiola in the rankings. Arne Slot is tasked with filling the vast void that Klopp leaves behind, with the Dutchman poised to depart Feyenoord and move to Anfield.

There is uncertainty around the situation, with Manchester United jettisoning from being the most dominant club in England to failing to regularly challenge for major honours since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2013 exit. And Owen has confessed he’s worried similar could happen to Liverpool.

The former Reds striker said: I fear it's a possibility for Liverpool [to have a similar decline as Man United when they appointed David Moyes], but I hope it's not and by the time the season kicks off, everyone will be full of optimism again with a new manager, a new way of playing perhaps and one or two signings, but I don't think there will be wholesale changes. I don't think he plays in a vastly different way to how Liverpool do at the moment.

"But of course every Liverpool fan will be nervous looking at what happened to Manchester United and Arsenal, even Chelsea, although they didn't have that consistency for a long time. But once it does start slipping it's hard to get it back, we're talking fine margins and you need to be an absolutely brilliant team to be competing now.

"It's the highest standard there has ever been, you literally can't make a mistake these days. They will be nervous. Are Liverpool going to remain a powerful force or has their era of greatness slipped and will it take time to build back up again? It remains to be seen.”