Former England and Manchester United striker, Wayne Rooney said Arne Slot could be sacked if Liverpool fail to make top five in the league this season.

The EPL title holders currently sit in sixth place with 42 points, two below fifth-place Chelsea.

The Merseyside club, who started their title defence strongly before falling off, are struggling to qualify for the UCL with Chelsea and Manchester United unrelenting.

Rooney said Slot could be shown the way out if the club’s fortunes do not improve drastically and fast.

According to him, the Dutchman lacks the aura to remain Liverpool manager.

“It’s strange isn’t it when you’re talking about Slot being on an audition to keep his job when he has obviously recently won the Premier League.

“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,” the former manafer of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle said.

Responding, 47-year-old Slot said he shared little in common with Liverpool’s former manager, Jurgen Klopp.

He said the aura would return like last season’s once the club returned to winning ways.

“We are all different. The only thing we have in common, Jurgen and me, is that we both won the league – and that’s not too bad, is it? I think the more a manager wins, the more aura he has. I don’t know if you agree with Wayne Rooney, by the way, but if this would be the general opinion then I think people would probably tell you last season I had more aura than this season.

“But maybe he’s the only one who has this opinion; I don’t know, you tell me. It’s the first time that I heard this but I think it’s fair to say that Jurgen definitely has an aura. I can talk about him, not about myself, but he definitely had that. But a winning manager has an aura as well.” (Saturday Sun)