Xabi Alonso is unlikely to be on Liverpool’s shortlist to replace Jurgen Klopp as the Merseyside club do not believe he will be available this summer.
Alonso has been seen as a candidate to replace Klopp since the German announced he would leave Anfield at the end of the season. However, the club continues to evaluate alternative candidates after it was revealed that Alonso plans to stay in Leverkusen.
This means Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim and Brighton and Hove Albion’s Roberto De Zerbi are now leading candidates for the vacancy at Anfield, where Liverpool plan to whittle down the contenders in the coming weeks.
De Zerbi will get his chance to impress when his Brighton side take on Klopp in the Premier League at Anfield on Sunday. Meanwhile, Amorim has many admirers as he ended Sporting’s 19-year wait to become Portuguese champions and made an impressive start to his coaching career, winning three domestic cup competitions.
The prospect of Alonso, a former player and Champions League winner, returning to Anfield to build on Klopp’s work has appealed to romantics who remember the elegant Spaniard pulling the strings in Liverpool’s midfield between 2004 and 2009.
Even Klopp appeared to agree with the idea, giving the impression that Alonso was the ‘blessed one’ with his lavish praise of the Leverkusen coach last month.
“The new generation is already there and I would say Xabi is the standout in that area,” Klopp said. “He’s a former, first-class player, so of course he also coaches the family, which helps a little bit. He was already like a coach when he was playing.
“The football he played, the teams he built, the transfers he made were absolutely extraordinary. Obviously when you look at the Europa League, Leverkusen is one of the favorites there as well, so this season could also apply to Leverkusen. It’s really crazy.”
Liverpool gathering information on potential managers
From Liverpool’s perspective, the 42-year-old had front-row status imposed on himself from the outside immediately after Klopp announced his departure.
Since Klopp’s announcement, Liverpool have appointed a new sporting director, Richard Hughes, who will take over in June. Fenway Sports Group has reunited with former athletic director Michael Edwards, the American team owners’ chief football executive.
He will have his own ideas on a successor, while the club’s data analysts, led by Will Spearman, are already compiling dossiers on those best suited to the job.
Alonso, along with others, was under intense consideration and if he thought the time was right to move to England he would naturally have a strong case for the job.
His apparent unavailability is undoubtedly a blow, especially to the fans who have made him their No.1 choice, but Liverpool are confident there are others who can take the team forward in the full-throttle style that has become the norm under Klopp.
Bayern: ‘It will be difficult to transfer Alonso’
Liverpool are not the only club that thinks Alonso will stay at Leverkusen. Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeness said his club had effectively given up on trying to persuade him to move to the Allianz Arena.
“I think it will be very difficult to sign Xabi Alonso, probably not impossible,” he said. “I can definitely imagine him staying at Bayer Leverkusen to continue his job.
“[Alonso] Considering their current success, he is more inclined to stay at Bayer Leverkusen because he does not want to leave them behind. “If he had been successful for, say, two or three more years, it probably would have been easier to get him out of there.”
Alonso himself has remained tight-lipped, despite having a strong connection to both star jobs. There are also claims that Real Madrid, one of Alonso’s former clubs, sees him as the natural heir of Carlo Ancelotti if the legendary Italian football player continues his path.
A hard-working player, Alonso appears to be equally careful about how he plans his coaching career.
He was patient in his early forays into management, rejecting many offers from big European clubs while learning his craft as Real Sociedad’s ‘B’ coach.
Despite his incredible success at Leverkusen this season, where his side are still unbeaten in all competitions and on the verge of winning the Bundesliga title, he appears determined to work to his own timetable rather than make the jump to one of the biggest clubs in the world. first opportunity.
While Liverpool evaluate alternatives, the only guarantee is that Klopp’s replacement will have to play with the attacking style that has brought great honor to Anfield since 2019.
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