Liverpool icon responds to Wayne Rooney after Arne Slot's 'aura' questioned

Wayne Rooney has suggested he doesn't think Arne Slot has the 'aura' to be Liverpool boss amid ongoing pressure over his position, with one former Red giving his thoughts on the comments

Wayne Rooney suggested that Arne Slot doesn't have the 'aura' to be Liverpool manager(Image: Getty Images)

Former Liverpool star Jason McAteer has admitted he can understand why Wayne Rooney thinks Arne Slot doesn’t have the “aura” to be Liverpool boss.

Rooney made the comment this week as he suggested that Slot could find himself in trouble this summer if the Reds fail to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

The Liverpool boss has come under pressure amid what has been a disappointing campaign following last year’s title triumph, with his side facing a fight just to finish inside the Premier League’s top five ahead of Manchester United and Chelsea, which should be enough to secure a spot at Europe’s top table.

“I have met him a couple of times, but I just don’t think, for Liverpool, he has that aura – and maybe that’s because Liverpool have just come off the back of Jurgen Klopp as manager – it’s difficult for anyone to do that but I just don’t think there is that aura about him,” Rooney said on the latest episode of The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet.

“I have spoken to managers, and I know they can be difficult at times, but if he doesn’t get them top five in the Premier League, he will be gone, for sure. It’s crazy to say when he has just won the Premier League.”

Although he did defend Slot to some extent, McAteer has admitted he can see where Rooney is coming from.

“I know where he’s going with that, I understand,” McAteer told beIN Sports.

Arne Slot has come under pressure for his position at Liverpool this season(Image: Getty Images)

“Listen, to follow in the footsteps of arguably one of Liverpool’s greatest managers, for what Jurgen Klopp did and his personality, was always going to be a tough ask for a character of Arne Slot, who is probably slightly introverted whereas Jurgen is extrovert.

“He’s very quiet, he’s very meticulous in what he does. That’s not to say Jurgen isn’t, he just went about in a different way.

“I think Arne is a bit more hands-on on the training ground. When training takes place, he has a lot more say over things, where Jurgen would kind of leave it up to Pep Lijnders and man-manage the players.

“I think you need a bit of everything, I think you need a bit of charisma. I don’t know if aura is the right word.”

McAteer added: “Listen, that’s not to say these managers can’t be successful, I mean Arne Slot won the Premier League with Liverpool with the aura that he has.

“It’s just, in those big moments when things are tough, you’re looking at your manager to lead, and you’re looking for your manager to be outspoken and say what you want to hear, and Jurgen was the master of that.

“I do think Arne slightly struggles with it, he has said a couple of things that, when you’re winning, could be interpreted differently, but when Liverpool ares struggling, he came out and said something about the Champions League, talking about getting knocked out by Paris and it helping.

“That’s not what the Liverpool fans want to hear. Had we been winning, it might have been interpreted differently, but we were losing and they took offense to that.

“It’s a difficult one because managing a football team now, you have to have lots of different qualities.”