By Chris McKenna
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 chasing 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.
But unless Alonso indicates otherwise in the coming weeks, the two top clubs chasing him believe he will be out of reach this summer. "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," Hoeness said.
"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 alternatives to Alonso.
Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim has been heavily linked while Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi is another candidate.
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.
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