Xabi Alonso is leaning towards staying at Bayer Leverkusen – leaving Liverpool to look at other managerial targets.
Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness has said it will be “probably impossible” to land the Spaniard this summer as the German champions were also interested in him.
That feeling is similar at Anfield as new CEO of football Michael Edwards drafts a shortlist of names to replace Jurgen Klopp. That means it is not expected – at least at the moment – that Alonso, 42, will be on their final list.
The Bayer Leverkusen manager is a highly-sought after man as he looks set to lead the German club to their first ever Bundesliga title this season.
He has been the favourite with the bookmakers to replace Klopp since the German announced he was leaving Anfield at the end of this season.
Liverpool would have considered Alonso as a potential Klopp successor if he was keen to move this summer but they reckon he’s staying where he is barring a late change of heart after their due diligence on their former midfielder led them to this conclusion. It appears Bayern have also decided that.
“We’ll have to see if we can do it this year,” said Hoeness . “It will be difficult, if not probably impossible. [Alonso] is more inclined to stay at Bayer Leverkusen in view of their current successes, because he would not want to leave them behind..
“Let’s say if he had two or three more years of success, it would probably be easier to bring him out of there.”
Edwards is returning to Liverpool as CEO of football and is leading the search for Klopp’s replacement. He is bringing in Richard Hughes from Bournemouth to be the club’s sporting director and now they are looking at other names as Alonso was pushed to the front of the queue by external links rather than Liverpool.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim has been heavily linked and is well regarded at Anfield while Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi is another candidate as he prepares to take his side to Merseyside on Sunday.
Amorim, 39, has guided Sporting to the Portuguese title in 2021 and is consistently put in the frame for top jobs so there’s no surprise he is under consideration at Anfield. He is understood to have a release clause in his contract of around £17m.
De Zerbi has been built on Graham Potter’s work at Brighton but their progress this season has been curtailed by injuries and the sale of key stars such as Reds midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo. He has yet to lose against Klopp’s Liverpool.
There are others on the list which is being cut down to a few figures before they make a final decision in the coming weeks. Former Liverpool, Bayern and Real Madrid midfielder Alonso remains a target for Bayern Munich, who are replacing Thomas Tuchel this summer, but they may have to wait.
The Spaniard is one of the reasons Tuchel is leaving as he is leading Leverkusen to their first ever Bundesliga title. Bayern are 10 points behind Alonso’s side and look set to finish second in the league for the first time since 2012, ending an 11-year run as champions of Germany.
