untitled-design-2024-03-13t151206-323.png
Getty Images

Jurgen Klopp's successor at Anfield has been the subject of speculation since the Liverpool manager announced back in late January that he would be leaving his position at the end of this season due to fatigue after nine years in the role. The German tactician has won it all during his time leading the Reds with Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup titles to his name not to mention a good shot at a UEFA Europa League crown by the end of this campaign to better his current runners-up best in that competition.

It was unexpected, then, that one of the candidates linked with Liverpool's plan to succeed Klopp is RC Lens head coach Frank Haise who EPL fans might remember as the man who led the French outfit against Arsenal earlier in this term's UCL group stage. Not least to the man himself.

"What can I say? It is good," Haise said recently. "It is recognition of the work that has been done, a job that I have not done alone. If we are talking about data, results and playing style -- all of that is a collective effort. It is recognition for me which we can all take a little pride in. It is also recognition of the work done by the club over the past four years or so."

Let's take a look at the outsider candidate to follow in the former Borussia Dortmund boss' footsteps and analyze what it could be that has put him on the Anfield radar.

Who is Franck Haise?

Turning 53 next month and hailing from the Normandy region of France, Haise's playing career was largely unremarkable starting with hometown club FC Rouen 1899 and taking in two spells with Stade Lavallois before finishing professionally with Angers SCO in 2004. Six years with Stade Rennais' youth academy inbetween two spells as a head coach at regional level led him to FC Lorient where he coached the reserves, was assistant to Sylvain Ripoll and then Bernard Casoni before moving on to Lens.

Haise led Les Sang et Or's reserves for three years before stepping up to replace Philippe Montanier in 2020 just before COVID-19 and its wider impact devastated French soccer. It was just enough time to move Lens into second spot in Ligue 2, which was enough to be promoted back to Ligue 1 after five years in the second tier and Haise was confirmed as full-time head coach upon completion of his professional football coaching qualifications in May of that same year.

What has he done with Lens?

Lens' return to Le Championnat has been nothing short of remarkable with the Northerners no lower than seventh in each of Haise's three full seasons in charge and looking likely to finish in that sweet spot again and confirm a return to Europe after this campaign's adventure across the Champions League and Europa League. Inevitably, other clubs started to look at Lens' magic man including OGC Nice who managed to tempt sporting director Florent Ghisolfi away from Stade Bollaert Delelis, but an upgrade to the joint role of general manager and head coach was enough to keep Haise with the club for his biggest achievement yet.

The high point under the French tactician so far has been finishing second in Ligue 1 in 2023 just one single point behind Paris Saint-Germain despite a staggering difference in budget which earned Haise the UNFP head coach of the year award. However, he has since stepped away from the general manager role and has reverted to being head coach once more: "It was a personal decision which I had been reflecting on for a few weeks -- at least since late 2023," he said of the move. "I made this decision first and foremost to preserve my energy. I am no longer general manager so no longer paid the same, but that is normal. It is not because of stress. If it was, I would no longer be coaching. I can handle stress, but you have to listen to yourself and to your body at some point."

Haise has been linked with jobs outside of France before with Brighton and Hove Albion the most notable links after Graham Potter's departure but Roberto De Zerbi got the job. Rennes have been linked with an attempt to bring him back to Brittany while Olympique de Marseille could be a summer possibility as a long-term replacement for Jean-Louis Gasset. Liverpool, though, is without doubt the biggest club to have been linked with Haise so far. Assuming Lens return to Europe after their disappointing UEL exit at the hands of SC Freiburg recently, Les Artesiens might feel confident of getting him to agree to an improved contract with added investment into the squad.

How does he set the team up?

Stylistically, much of what Haise has done with Lens since returning to Ligue 1 has focused on a rough 3-4-3 shape which is more precisely a 3-4-2-1 when you look at the three most attacking players. Much of the width comes from wing backs who chip in defensively as well as offensively, while the main strength of the team is channeled through the middle with three central defenders and two central midfielders with two supporting attackers for creativity making up the spine of the XI.

This system puts major emphasis on the player at the tip of the attack which is why highly rated Montpellier HSC prospect Elye Wahi was selected to replace Lois Openda after the Belgium international left for RB Leipzig where he has continued to excel. Despite a number of key departures which have contributed towards Lens' impressive business acumen, Haise has found a way to keep his team competitive with the replacements made available to him or solutions from within the ranks.

Which players have flourished under him?

The list is lengthy, but Openda needed just one season under Haise before being sold on to Leipzig for almost $45 million which is roughly three times what Lens paid Vitesse Arnhem for him 12 months earlier. Seko Fofana was one of Ligue 1's best-performing midfielders for three seasons before moving on to Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia again for around three times the amount that the Northern club paid for him upon their topflight return with $27.5 million representing Lens' all-time second best sale after Openda. Crystal Palace midfielder Cheick Doucoure was a youth academy graduate and also fetched nearly $25 million while defender Loic Bade vaulted to Rennes after just one year under Haise having arrived as a free agent and leaving for nearly $20 million.

Jonathan Clauss and Brice Samba have been called up by France head coach Didier Deschamps while playing for Lens under Haise and the former is now exceling for Olympique de Marseille. Facundo Medina and Kevin Danso are regularly called up at international level thanks to their improvement with Lens while Wahi, Andy Diouf and Angelo Fulgini are the next gems expected to flourish under Haise -- should he stay. Perhaps the most impressive of all, though, at least in performance terms, has been the consistency extracted from essentially Ligue 2 journeymen Jonathan Gradit and Florian Sotoca who remain regular starters even now, along with bargain signing and versatile Poland international Przemyslaw Frankowski who was with Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer before.

How could he suit Liverpool?

Haise has been surrounded by people who know English soccer well since his ascension to the job with Lens. His former assistant Alou Diarra played for Liverpool during his career as well as West Ham United and Charlton Athletic while his main right hand man Lilian Nalis spent nearly 10 years in England with the likes of Leicester City and Sheffield United among others. Ghisolfi, who had a say in replacing Montanier with Haise back in 2020, has also been linked with Liverpool and the Nice man worked well as the architect for the foundations upon which Haise has managed to construct this solid Lens side. The general manager role has proved to be more taxing than expected, but Lens had to offer that and a role change to Gregory Thil to keep them from following Ghisolfi to Nice. Thil has since left but Haise has secured notable results with much of the team constructed by Ghisolfi including a famous 2-1 home win over Arsenal in this year's group stage and eliminating Sevilla from Europe entirely.

Is Haise Klopp succession material?

Following on from Klopp will be an unenviable task for even the most experienced of managers although Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso has an edge as a former Liverpool player and an incredible Bundesliga campaign so far. Questions will likely be asked of Haise's European pedigree, but it should be noted that he ended a 15-year wait for continental soccer at Stade Bollaert Delelis and led Lens from Ligue 2 to second place and just a single point behind the juggernaut of PSG. It might not come with the titles that Alonso seems destined to win with Leverkusen this term but it deserves greater credit than is often given.

However, arguably the biggest challenge for anybody following on from Klopp will be trying to harness the Anfield crowd and the passionate Liverpool fanbase. As with the late Gerard Houllier before him, Haise has been prepared well for English soccer by Lens' cult supporters who are among the most fanatical in France and the club comes from a relatively poor region of the country. In terms of similarities, Haise's restoration of Lens is not too dissimilar from Klopp's turnaround of Borussia Dortmund and time will tell if the Frenchman can make the team more competitive in Europe if he stays beyond this season. One thing is for certain, though, and that is that the links between Haise and Liverpool are not as laughable and easy to dismiss as some have made out.