Liverpool ‘keeping watch on Xabi Alonso’s progress as manager as Reds look to future beyond Jurgen Klopp’
LIVERPOOL are keeping tabs on Xabi Alonso’s progress as a manager as they plan for Jurgen Klopp’s eventual exit, reports claim.
The Reds are certainly in no rush to replace the German, as they enjoy their best period of success in over 30 years.
But as all well-run clubs do, they are succession planning ahead of Klopp’s eventual exit.
Julian Nagelsmann, Steven Gerrard and current assistant Pepijn Ljinders are all thought to be in the frame.
And according to the Liverpool Echo, Gerrard’s former partner in crime Alonso, 39, is also on their radar.
The classy Spaniard is in currently in charge of Real Sociedad’s B team, having managed Real Madrid’s Under-14s in the 2018-19 season.
And he could eventually be in line for an emotional return to Anfield, having left for Madrid in 2009.
A reunion would likely appeal to Alonso, having admitted to The Times in 2011 that he would be a Liverpool fan ‘forever’.
He said: “I am still a Liverpool fan and will be forever, absolutely.
“The things that I have lived and the experiences I had during those five years are deep in my heart and the passion and respect I had for the club and its supporters are still the same.
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“Hopefully I can transmit to my son what Liverpool Football Club means and how special it is, as he was born in the city and he will visit it in the future.”
Alonso is already highly-rated as a coach, with Spanish football writer Colin Millar having explained his impact at Real Sociedad during an appearance on Blood Red podcast.
He said: “Alonso has come into Sociedad and made such an impression early on.
“It was always clear when you watched him play that he could move into coaching because he was very smart and very intelligent.
He will be a coach who may be of interest to FC Bayern at some point in the future
Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rumenigge
“Rafa Benitez, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti – this is a guy who’s spent time at top clubs and managers with a range of styles. The general consensus is that he has taken a bit out of all of them.
“Real Sociedad have more players coming through than any other club in LaLiga and that is what Alonso is being tasked with doing – and he is already doing it.”
The Reds may have competition from another of Alonso’s former clubs, however, with Bayern Munich legend and CEO Karl-Heinz Rumenigge having admitted: “He will be a coach who may be of interest to FC Bayern at some point in the future.”