Liverpool fans are looking forward to a new era under the management of Arne Slot.
The Dutch coach has been installed at Anfield following Jurgen Klopp’s decision to leave the club this summer.
Having officially started his contract at the AXA Training Centre on Saturday, Slot will be busy getting to grips with the make up of his first-team squad.
Had things gone differently though, perhaps the former Feyenoord boss would never have been given the chance to lead Liverpool. In the days and weeks after Klopp’s decision to leave was announced, Xabi Alonso had been the overriding favourite.
After Alonso decided to continue his good work at Bayer Leverkusen though, the Spaniard was off the table. More than two months on from making that call, Alonso has once again been questioned about the Liverpool job.
Xabi Alonso explains Liverpool snub
Alonso has had a quite unbelievable first full season in management. Although they couldn’t quite snatch an undefeated treble in the end, Leverkusen should still be delighted with a double.
Having led the first ever Bundesliga team to go a full season unbeaten, Alonso deserves enormous credit.
It wasn’t just his links to Liverpool as a former player which marked him out as a possible replacement for Klopp. Alonso looks like being a genuinely special manager in his own right.
And although the club will be right behind Slot now, the prospect of the 42-year-old coming back to one day manage at Anfield remains an enticing one.
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Whether that happens remains to be seen, although it is still reportedly in Alonso’s plans. Nevertheless, it will have to wait. Asked by CNN why he made the surprise decision not to join his former club this summer, Alonso gave a typically balanced reply.
“All these decisions, they need to be thorough,” he said. “You need to really think about them. And it was more about what I had, not what I’m missing. For sure, my bond with Liverpool is there and it’s still there. So there’s no, any kind of issue with that.”
Asked whether he’d spoken to Liverpool about taking the job, Alonso responded: “That’s kind of behind the curtains.”
Will Xabi Alonso ever manage Liverpool?
It would have been brilliant to see Alonso take the Liverpool job over from Klopp this summer.
The World Cup winner has had a stunning year and would have been given a heroes welcome upon a return to the club he spent half a decade at.
Obviously, we’re right behind Slot. But there’s little question that the new head coach will have to work harder to win over the Anfield crowd than, for example, Alonso would.
In our opinion, Xabi was wrong to turn Liverpool down, if indeed he was the first choice.
Things have gone wonderfully for him this season, but who’s to say what comes next year. If his stock plummets, maybe this chance will never come around again.
For now, that looks unlikely. Alonso looks like he has years at the top level to come. If the Liverpool train has been and gone though, we’ll just have to wait to find out.