Liverpool have spoken with Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill and Birmingham City's Alex McLeish about the manager's job, it has been revealed.

The Mirror says Liverpool have interviewed several candidates for the job, including O'Neill, Manuel Pellegrini and McLeish, with Reds legend Kenny Dalglish and MD Christian Purslow holding secret meetings over the past three weeks.

But they swiftly settled on Fulham boss Roy Hodgson as the best candidate, and have been waiting for him to return from South Africa to thrash out contract details.