Jurgen Klopp’s success hasn’t quite yet been determined by Liverpool. The Reds have known about his desire to leave the club since November. However, to most of the staff and players Klopp’s announcement earlier this year came as a surprise.
Undoubtedly, behind the scenes, Liverpool have been working actively to pursue potential candidates who fit the profile of having what it takes to become Klopp’s successor. This includes an extensive list all with both pros and cons.
Among the favourites is Xabi Alonso, who has done a remarkable job at Bayer Leverkusen. He continues to defy the odds. From leading the Bundesliga table, and beating on course to be the first manager not coaching Bayern Munich to win the league since Jurgen Klopp to being the only team in Europe’s top five leagues still unbeaten and beating Pep Guardiola’s record for the longest unbeaten run in German football. These achievements put Alonso on the top of Liverpool’s list.
Rousing the Kop has the latest on Liverpool’s managerial search with exclusive insight from Graeme Bailey.
Xabi Alonso latest
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Rousing the Kop, transfer expert Graeme Bailey has revealed that Liverpool are in regular contact with Xabi Alonso’s representatives. The Spaniard seems to be the favourite to succeed Jurgen Klopp at the moment.
“To my understanding FSG have been working on it. Yeah, they’d like a sporting director in first, but Xabi Alonso is the one they want,” Bailey said. “Let’s not beat around the bush. FSG are in place, Mike Gordon’s there, there’s enough people in there to be putting together a deal for Alonso and that’s what they’re doing. He is their first choice. They’re confident that they can offer him that project to come in.
“Obviously it’s complicated by the fact that they’re both in the Europa League and it’s meant to be that the two will meet in the final. It’s just guaranteed to happen isn’t it, the way football plays out.
So whilst those two are in that competition, even if it was agreed, I don’t think Liverpool and Bayer will want to announce it. But they might be forced into a corner. Xabi himself won’t say anything publicly, he’ll keep denying it, but we know this is going to be done before the end of the season – the agreement anyway, and they’re battling it out now.”
Bailey understands however that Liverpool are not the only ones keen on Alonso’s services.
“Barcelona have got a few options and they would like him as well. But now Bayern are really turning up the pressure. They do have other options, believe it or not Jose Mourinho is an option for Bayern, someone who Harry Kane loves et cetera. But when someone like Xabi Alonso is on the market and Real Madrid aren’t in the mix for him, it’s going to be fascinating.
“So yeah, at the moment Bayern have already made moves, Liverpool have already made moves and we’ll see how it transpires over the coming weeks. It’s not going to be down to money, we know that. If he goes to Bayern or Liverpool he’ll be on very similar terms. It’s not going to be a Saudi Arabian style blow them out of the water. Any of the three clubs, and it will be one of those three, it’ll be a similar wage packet. So, it’s going be the project, the squad on offer and I think that’s why Liverpool have the advantage, I think it’s a more settled project.”
Bailey also claims that Liverpool are in regular contact with Alonso and his representatives.
“I think they’re pushing very hard now behind the scenes. They’re making sure they’re in regular contact, making sure that Xabi feels the love from Liverpool. They won’t just assume that he’s going to say yes. No, they’ll be going toe to toe, head to head with Bayern now. They’ll be leaving no stone unturned to try and get him.
“Even before the season, he had Xabi was very high up on Liverpool’s list. They knew how good he was even before this season. They’d been doing their due diligence on him a long time before this January. Obviously this season has helped but they knew how good he was before now.”
Alonso is the outstanding candidate for Liverpool. He seems to inspire confidence in his players and has a similar level of charisma to Jurgen Klopp. It is no coincidence that recently Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo described Alonso as an ‘incredible’ manager (Bundesliga.com).