Rodgers poised to complete Anfield move

Liverpool close in on three-year contract for manager, with Swansea set for £4m compensation

Rodgers was due to hold talks with Liverpool owner John Henry last night (Getty Images)

Brendan Rodgers was last night set to become the new manager of Liverpool, after being offered a three-year contract to succeed Kenny Dalglish.

The move by Fenway Sports Group ends a two-week search for a new man to take control at Anfield. Rodgers' former club, Swansea City, will pocket around £4m in compensation for losing their highly rated young manager.

The 39-year-old met the Liverpool owner, John Henry, and chairman, Tom Werner, yesterday, after lengthy discussions with the Swansea chairman, Huw Jenkins, on Tuesday.

Jenkins, the Swansea chairman, said on the club's official website: "I was contacted by Liverpool last night and they expressed their wish to speak to Brendan regarding their vacancy. I had a discussion with Brendan to talk about their interest and his views on whether he wanted to speak to Liverpool.

"He expressed his wish with me to do that and he has spoken to Liverpool today. Following on from discussions with Liverpool's owners, Brendan has informed us that he would like to take up their offer to manage Liverpool.

"At the moment we are currently in talks with the owners to agree compensation. We are trying to finalise that within the next 24 hours.

"Although we are very disappointed to lose such a talented, young British manager, we didn't wish to stand in his way. As always at Swansea City, we want people working here who are fully committed to the task ahead. We wish Brendan every success in the future.

"We will always remain good friends and we thank him for all his hard work and passion at this football club over the past two years. We shall now refocus and quickly start the process of finding his replacement to continue the great work Brendan has carried out."

Jenkins had been critical of the way Liverpool had set about finding a replacement for Dalglish. Liverpool had spoken of creating a lengthy candidate list and that also seemed to unsettle Roberto Martinez, who met Henry last week in Miami for talks.

Rodgers' move to become the fourth manager of Liverpool in two years will cap a meteoric rise. He began his managerial career as a youth-team coach at Reading after an injury ended his playing career. Jose Mourinho took him to Chelsea, where he worked as youth-team coach, before becoming reserve-team coach. From there he became manager of Watford before returning to Reading when Steve Coppell left in 2009. That move, however, did not work out and he left the Madejski Stadium six months later, before taking over at Swansea in the summer of 2010.

That was the making of him, as he led Swansea into the Premier League with a free-flowing, passing style of football that has drawn comparisons with Barcelona. The club's first season in the Premier League was a successful one, the newly promoted side ending it in 11th place.