Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes former team-mate Xabi Alonso is the ‘standout candidate’ to replace Jurgen Klopp and recalled his first impressions of the Spaniard.
Xabi Alonso appeared to show the skills needed to become a future Liverpool manager when he was the age of just 22.
The Spaniard, 42, joined the Reds as a player in 2004 from Real Sociedad and became a Champions League winner with the Anfield club. He left Anfield in 2009 for Real Madrid and went on to win the World Cup, Euros and another Champions League trophy.
Two decades later, Alonso’s impressive work in charge of Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen has caught the attention of Liverpool, who could pursue him as Jurgen Klopp’s successor at the end of the season. And according to former Reds team-mate Jamie Carragher, Alonso showed the capacity to be a top head coach before he had even played a game for Liverpool.
The Sky Sports pundit explained how he was left stunned when Alonso told at the time head coach Rafa Benitez ways to improve the Liverpool team as soon as he arrived. And while Carragher was annoyed with the unproven midfielder at the time, he later learned it was a sign of Alonso’s vast footballing knowledge.
The former centre-back told The Redmen TV: “I remember Rafa saying – and don’t forget Xabi was only 22 – ‘We’ve got this player coming in, I think he’s a fantastic player. He’s already spoken about where the team can improve, other tactical things’.
“And I’m reading this thinking, ‘Who the f****** hell does he think he is? 22, coming over from Spain, telling us where we’re going wrong. F****** let’s see you in the shirt first!’”
Carragher, who played in the 2005 Champions League final alongside Alonso, went on to add: “We used to speak a lot about football. He was always someone who was interested in football and he did watch a lot of football.”
And Carragher has repeatedly highlighted his old friend Alonso’s credentials to take the reins at Liverpool. His Leverkusen side are currently five points clear of Bayern Munich in the German top flight with just 12 games left, making him a target for several of Europe’s top clubs.
That prompted Carragher to say Alonso is the “standout candidate” to replace Klopp, even though he has only managed 69 senior matches. “It’s still very early in his managerial career,” Carragher admitted on CBS Sports earlier this week. “In an ideal world you’d say, ‘It’s Xabi Alonso but he’s had another job, he might have won a Champions League somewhere else, he’s won a league here’ and all these different things.”
“But, I don’t see where he is right now, anyone that would be in front of him in terms of what Liverpool fans want or maybe the Liverpool board want. I don’t know what the Liverpool board want but he just feels like he is the standout candidate.”
