Who is Zeljko Buvac? And is he Arsenal’s next manager?
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Arsenal are on the search for a new manager this summer, and the latest odds suggest that man could well be Zeljko Buvac.
He is currently Liverpool’s assistant manager, but it was announced this week that he is spending time away from the club for ‘personal reasons’.
And the rumour hounds believe it could be because the 56-year-old is lining up a move to succeed Arsene Wenger at the Emirates.
In fact, there’s been so much speculation that our traders have made Buvac 4/1 second favourite for the gig!
But who is he?
Buvac spent much of his playing days in what was then Yugoslavia. But it was a move to German side Mainz which saw him cross paths with a certain Jurgen Klopp.
After three years with another German outfit, Neukirchen, Buvac became manager of the club in 1998.
He spent three years with the central German side, before starting a long and successful pairing when his old mate Klopp became Mainz manager in 2001.
And it’s a partnership whch has largely remained the same ever since.
Buvac followed Klopp to Borussia Dortmund when the latter took the BVB job in 2008, winning the Bundesliga together in 2011 and 2012.
The duo then made the move to the Premier League, with Buvac following Klopp to Anfield when he was named manager of Liverpool.
The pair have been together for 17 years, so Buvac’s departure – just days before Liverpool’s huge Champions League clash with Roma – has set tongues wagging.
Nicknamed, ‘the Brain’, it’s widely-regarded that Buvac boasts an excellent skillset when it comes to coaching and tactics, allowing Klopp to focus on man-managing his squad.
Buvac will have learnt plenty during his time alongside Klopp, and with a number of Dortmund connections already at Arsenal (including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan), the rumours could have some credence to them.
Click here for the latest Arsenal manager odds.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
