Following Jurgen Klopp’s unexpected decision to quit the team at the end of the season, Xabi Alonso has emerged as the clear frontrunner to take over as manager of Liverpool.
Alonso, a former favourite at Anfield who scored in their Champions League final victory in 2005, has had incredible success at Bayer Leverkusen, who lead the Bundesliga by two points over Bayern Munich and have advanced to the Europa League knockout stages following a perfect group-stage campaign.
After eight Bundesliga games, the team was second from the bottom when he came in October 2022. After just 26 games, they were in sixth place in Europe.However, Liverpool is not the only team pursuing the man, who is presently one of the hottest managerial prospects, with avarice. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and even Manchester City, where Pep Guardiola may decide not to stay till the end of the following season, will be keenly monitoring the situation as well (both of whom he played for with great distinction).It’s also anything but a done deal, even with bookies giving meagre odds that give the impression that it is. The only thing that is definite is that Alonso alone will make the final decision.
1. Germany supporters can dream, but they have to wait for Klopp’s
2. Who will manage Liverpool going forward?
3. Klopp feels ‘convinced’ that quitting Liverpool is the ‘best thing to do’.
‘Leverkusen would not stand in the way’
The former Spain international, who has recently turned 42, has two and a half years left on his Bayer Leverkusen contract.Leverkusen have always told Alonso, both privately and publicly, they would not stand in his way if a chance to join one of the elite clubs in Europe came his way. There is no buy-out clause in his contract.Nothing has changed. His plan has always been the same. The idea has always been that if things went well then the likes of Real Madrid and Liverpool would be a possible next step, while if things went less well then there would always be the chance of returning to his hometown of San Sebastian and Real Sociedad.In fact, after taking his apprenticeship with Real Sociedad B side Sanse, Alonso might well have graduated to the job as first-team coach had it not been for the excellent job current incumbent Imanol Alguacil had done, and continues to do.Circumstances have now also brought Bayern Munich into the picture as well as Manchester City, although it is way off the mark to suggest that all any of the top clubs have to do is knock on his door and he will come running.His long-term managerial plan goes even further back to when he was still playing.Alonso was very much a coach and fan favourite at Real Madrid when he decided to leave them to join Bayern Munich in 2014, and where he would play his last three seasons before retiring as a player.It was a decision that surprised many, although it was one he took so he could learn more about coaching under the tutelage of Pep Guardiola as well as become fluent in German, something which is standing him in good stead these days.Within four months of his arrival at the club he was giving his first interview in German. Focus and dedication to the task in hand, whatever that might be, has characterised wherever he has been, both as a player and a coach.
A hand-on coach rather than a manager
As a player, as well as learning from Guardiola, Alonso soaked up from the very best including Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez, and knows how to put his ideas across to players. He is very much an interventionist, a hands-on coach rather than a manager.His style as a coach leads him to look to dominate through possession, though he isn’t an evangelical fundamentalist to the idea in the same way that he isn’t joined at the hip to always playing 4-3-3, the favoured line-up of those who see it as the crux of the game.At Leverkusen he swiftly realised it was poor defending that was hurting them most, and his decision to turn to a back three with two players playing just in front of them helped shore things up.It is a system Alonso still uses and now he has a much stronger midfield, capable of playing through into the opposition box.His constant corrections in training mean just about every player has improved both individually and as part of the collective – everyone knows his methodology and what is expected of them.In his relationship with the players he has shades of Ancelotti – friendly, courteous and cordial, though not to the extent where anyone would wonder who was in charge, while much of his defensive strategies have probably been learned from his time with Mourinho.All the players – including stars like Granit Xhaka and Alex Grimaldo – speak very highly of him. These are players that are impressed not just by his CV but by the fact that he has made them better, both individually and also as a part of the team, because they can all see that they are working to a structure, and one that works.
He still have an unfinished business
Alonso is aware that there is still more to be gained in the Bundesliga this year, even though things are not going so well for Thomas Tuchel, the coach of Bayern. He will also know that Guardiola is committed to Manchester City till the end of the following season, and that Real Madrid has extended Ancelotti’s contract until June 2026.Regarding Liverpool, Klopp has stated in public that Pep Lijnders, his assistant, would be a suitable successor.
But given the timing of the news and the departure of sporting director Jorg Schmadtke at the end of January, along with Klopp’s announcement that he, assistant coach Peter Krawietz, and elite development coach Vitor Matos would all be leaving in the summer, it appears that Anfield will undergo a total change of leadership this summer.There’s still a lot to speak about, though, and the only things that are clear are that Alonso and Bayer Leverkusen have unresolved business this season and that he won’t be swayed by the commotion.
The only person who will choose when Alonso should leave Bayer Leverkusen is him.
