De Boer on why he rejected chance to manage Liverpool

Frank de Boer: Sacked

Frank de Boer: Rejected Liverpool approach

Frank de Boer has admitted the chance to manage Liverpool came too soon for him when he was offered the role in 2012.

De Boer was one of the main names in the frame to replace Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 2012, with the role eventually being taken by then-Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers.

However, it could have been so different for Liverpool, with the Reds having approached De Boer first.

And the 46-year-old, who is currently out of employment after being sacked by Inter Milan, is now open to a Premier League move.

“I would love to manage here,” De Boer told the Daily Mail. “But the project has to be right. I told Liverpool I was honoured but I was only one year in at Ajax, it was too soon. I needed to achieve more, and I did.”

Discussing his experiences, the Dutchman added: “Leaving Ajax after 25 years as player, coach and manager was hard, but sometimes you are saying the same things, you need a new challenge, like Pep.

“But at Inter I had to deal with so many things away from football, you lose energy.

“Every time you thought, ‘Finally, a good result, everything has calmed down’, then comes Mauro Icardi’s book or Marcelo Brozovic is in the discotheque and you have to punish him.

“We only had three months but honestly, it felt like a year.”