There's something about Xabi
Why is the former playmaker considered Arne Slot's Liverpool successor-in-waiting?
Arne Slot will have known what to expect after Liverpool’s latest Premier League defeat.
The reversal at Brighton right before the international break placed his tenure back under the microscope long before the final whistle sounded. A tenth domestic loss of the campaign, which heightened the club’s risk of failing to qualify for next year’s Champions League, has only emboldened those continuing to call for his departure.
Slot’s decision to head back to his homeland for the final downtime period before the end of May was definitely a right course of action, especially in light of Mohamed Salah’s bombshell announcement and Jürgen Klopp’s scheduled return to the Anfield touchline as Liverpool Legends took on Borussia Dortmund in their annual charity fixture. Slot’s predecessor reignited a feelgood impact that allowed supporters to briefly forget about their rotten title defence as he rolled back the clock and delivered fist pumps in front of his adoring legions again following an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Yet it was neither Klopp nor his supporting cast whose shadow now looms over the Dutchman’s struggling reign. His nemesis was not even in the vicinity of the stadium.
Xabi Alonso continues to be touted as Slot’s successor-in-waiting. Whenever the Reds suffer another nosedive, as they did at the Amex Stadium, their former playmaker is immediately lauded as a ready-made panacea. The clamour extends beyond social media echo chambers, where the messaging from prominent fan accounts appears suspiciously coordinated, and has now been catapulted onto the mainstream agenda.
Slot was even forced to confront the prospect head-on when it was raised, in rather blunt terms, by a French journalist who asked before January’s Champions League trip to Marseille whether he had spoken to his supposed replacement about a bizarre handover. He batted away the pointed query with humour, joking about imagined talks with the Spaniard, then just several weeks on from being sacked by Real Madrid, while also labelling it ‘one of the most weirdest questions I’ve ever got’.
If that line of questioning felt surreal, the Alonso bandwagon is equally puzzling.
Those arguing for his ascension to the Anfield hot seat believe that it has been preordained by Klopp’s comments in February 2024, something which lends itself to artistic licence. The German did speak highly of Alonso’s body of work at the time but insisted that admiration was ‘completely independent’ of rumours swirling around a potential return to Merseyside prior to his appointment at the Bernabéu last summer.
Klopp had already teed up another ex-Liverpool fan favourite to ‘definitely’ follow in his footsteps with an unstinting belief that Steven Gerrard, also involved against Dortmund, would someday take the reins. Ahead of a first meeting with the former captain, then in charge of Aston Villa, he claimed it was a case of when - rather than if - the ‘right moment’ arose for Gerrard to lead his boyhood heroes from the dugout.
Despite routinely championing his cause, however, Klopp did sound a note of caution as early as 2019 when he told FourFourTwo that, “If someone gets your job, it’s not about them, it’s about you not being good enough.” Gerrard’s admission on Sky’s Stick to Football podcast, released earlier this week, that he is currently not in a position to realise his ‘dream’ of managing Liverpool confirmed he knows this is already the case.
Strangely, the Huyton native’s self-awareness has moved the needle with multiple bookmakers, who now place him in the top five market of contenders to replace Slot after previously offering long odds that had the likes of Enzo Maresca, Andoni Iraola and even current Fulham manager Marco Silva, formerly of Everton, all ahead of him.
Alonso, meanwhile, remains the overriding favourite to take over from the man who already bested him twice in as many seasons. His ongoing appeal with Liverpool fans is understandable, having carried himself on and off the pitch with incredible class as a player - even when confronted by the shambolic Gareth Barry transfer saga in 2008 - and developed into a potential touchline star. A warm reception upon returning with Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League’s league phase, despite uncertainty over whether he had snubbed his former club or vice versa, illustrated the depth of feeling for the man that was previously heralded by Kopites as a ‘midfield maestro’.
But while the World Cup winner’s stock continues to skyrocket since an acrimonious end to his time back at Madrid, the feeling is not shared at Anfield. Those in the corridors of power appear to take a very different view on his hoped-for homecoming.
Alonso’s success with Leverkusen, ending their six-decade wait to be crowned Bundesliga champions for a first time, earned him widespread acclaim along with several of the players who starred in that team, including Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong. Some aspects of his methods, though, were considered a red flag to owners Fenway Sports Group during their extensive search for Klopp’s successor in early 2024.
For all the emphasis on pressing and tactical discipline that would chime both in the stands and dressing room, a penchant for lining up with a three-man defence counted against him in the same way it did for Ruben Amorim’s own short-lived candidacy. Unlike the erstwhile Manchester United manager, Alonso was not fully wedded to that bedrock with both Leverkusen and Los Blancos; alternating with a 4-2-3-1 shape currently favoured by Slot or a more Klopp-esque 4-3-3 system. At Real Sociedad B, where his coaching journey began, both formations were staples of his approach.
A bruising experience at the Bernabéu, particularly around the handling of colossal egos, will also have added another mark next to Alonso’s name with powerbrokers both on Merseyside and in Boston. Vinícius Júnior’s open threats to leave the Spanish capital after his game time was stymied under him backed president Florentino Pérez into a corner amid fears the Brazilian would not extend his contract beyond its 2027 expiry. After his own midseason stand-off with Salah, Slot may secretly have some sympathy for the man being widely touted to take his place as early as this summer.
Whether Liverpool’s ownership will wield the axe on their beleaguered head coach, especially if he falls short of a bare-minimum top five qualification target, is still unclear. FSG have form for playing the long game with managers, even when it is not always merited, and will take mitigating factors into account before any moves to dispense. An interim appointment to see out the season is already discounted while John Henry and co. are understood to remain, for now at least, steadfastly behind him - even if seasoned Anfield match goers are rapidly, and audibly, losing patience.
Despite the current annus horribilis, Slot retains considerable backing with the Liverpool hierarchy; not only as a title-winning manager but also the second in the club’s history to rack up 62 victories in his opening 100 games - a feat only equalled by Sir Kenny Dalglish’s maiden spell in the dugout. Better than most, the legendary Scot knows that potentially salvaging a fragmented campaign through domestic silverware, with FA Cup success still viable as things stand, counts for precious little with FSG if unaccompanied by a return ticket to Europe’s elite, especially after receiving a glut of new players for a combined nine-figure transfer outlay. The Americans have resisted being trigger-happy in their time at Anfield but Slot should still not take their ongoing reluctance to entertain a potential Alonso coronation for granted.