Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney doesn’t think Liverpool boss Arne Slot has the “aura” to remain Reds manager in the long term.

The Reds won the Premier League in Slot’s first season at the club in 2024/25 but this season his side have been far from the levels set last term.

Liverpoolare currently sixth in the Premier League, three points off fourth-placed Manchester United and 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

There have been rumours that Slot could be sacked by Liverpool at the end of the season with the Reds board preferring not to make a change mid-season.

And Rooney insists that Slot has not got the “aura” to manage Liverpool in the long term but admits it was difficult to follow a personality like Jurgen Klopp.

Rooney said on The Overlap: “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.

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“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.”

Liverpool are in danger of missing out on qualification for the Champions League this season unless they find some consistency in the final 12 matches of the season.

Rooney added: “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.”

The former Man Utd forward has explained what he thinks has gone wrong at Liverpool this season and unexpectedly defended Virgil van Dijk, who he called out for being “lazy” last term.

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Rooney said: “If you look at Liverpool last season to now, [Mohamed] Salah and [Virgil] van Dijk haven’t been their best. Then you’ve got Trent [Alexander-Arnold] who’s missing, [Andy] Robertson hasn’t played a lot of games, Luiz Díaz [left] and the [Diogo] Jota situation.

“Even Darwin Nunez brought something, he wasn’t great, but he brought something. Liverpool have lost a lot of players so it sorts of a rebuild period [for them].”

Rooney continued: “With Liverpool and what has happened since last season, Van Dijk and [Mohamed] Salah – which I have been vocal about this season – may have lost a yard or two, and they are the two leaders of the team. The players they have lost around them would make it very difficult for any side to win the title.

“That should not count against Van Dijk and Salah. For me, Salah is one of the Premier League’s greatest of all time, and Van Dijk will be in the conversation as one of the best.

“I don’t think he is the best ever, but in this generation, he is certainly the best centre-back, so you cannot hold that against those two players.”