Liverpool to hold talks with Iraola and seek swift appointment of head coach

• Club want to name Slot’s successor before World Cup

• Stuttgart’s Hoeness and Lens’s Sage to be sounded out

Liverpool will hold formal talks with Andoni Iraola over their managerial vacancy this week and hope to install Arne Slot’s successor before the World Cup begins.

Liverpool are planning to move quickly in their search for a new head coach and intend to speak to their preferred candidates at the earliest opportunity. Contact has been made with Iraola’s camp and formal talks are expected over the coming days. The club are also likely to sound out Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness and Pierre Sage, of Lens, but the former Bournemouth head coach, who was brought to the south coast by Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes, is the frontrunner to replace Slot.