Xabi Alonso is staying at Bayer Leverkusen despite interest from Liverpool and Bayern Munich; Sporting Lisbon's Ruben Amorim and Brighton's Roberto De Zerbi have been billed as the next options to become Jurgen Klopp's Anfield successor; Sky Sports' Melissa Reddy analyses the situation...
Saturday 30 March 2024 13:12, UK
Liverpool's search for Jurgen Klopp's successor rumbles on - with the twist that early favourite Xabi Alonso will stay at Bayer Leverkusen.
Alonso was the outstanding candidate to take over at Anfield when, in late January, Klopp announced he would exit Liverpool at the end of this season.
Also linked with Bayern Munich - who will part ways with Thomas Tuchel this summer - Alonso announced in a press conference on Friday that he will stay with the Bundesliga leaders Leverkusen. It came a day after it was revealed that Liverpool were not expected to include him on their managerial shortlist.
With Sporting manager Ruben Amorim and Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi billed as the next-best options, Sky Sports News senior reporter Melissa Reddy analyses what Liverpool will do now...
When you look at what Liverpool want stylistically and in terms of approach, Ruben Amorim ranks very highly. Sporting Lisbon's high pressing metrics are very similar to Liverpool - as is the speed of their play and how direct they are.
Amorim's first full season at Sporting somewhat mirrors what Alonso is doing in his first full season at Leverkusen.
He's delivered Sporting's first league title in 19 years, a domestic double and they'd only suffered one top-flight defeat all season. Sporting are perched atop the table and could be crowned champions for the second time in four years.
Liverpool have in-depth knowledge of the Portuguese market with coaches Pep Lijnders, Vitor Matos and former sporting director Julian Ward all possessing excellent contacts and links there, so they'll have a wealth of information on Amorim.
The other manager heavily linked is Roberto De Zerbi, who has tactical acumen and ability to outperform his budget - Brighton have the second-lowest wage bill in the league but post possession-domination data that resembles the all-conquering Manchester City.
While Brighton largely are a contrast to Liverpool's directness, Alexis Mac Allister, Adam Lallana and James Milner will provide testimony that De Zerbi can fuse the Merseysiders' dynamism with more control.
There will be question marks over defensive numbers and how his temperament would stack up in a more pressured, demanding environment, but De Zerbi ticks a lot of the main boxes.
He outperforms resources, has a magnetic personality, plays the kind of football that draws applause from other managers and improves players.
This is more about Xabi Alonso rather than the opportunities being presented to him.
Alonso wants to stay at Leverkusen and continue his incredible project which is still in its infancy and is on course to make history. That's not only in the Bundesliga, but they could win a treble and remain unbeaten across all competitions.
The Spaniard has been given assurances that he can continue to build - and the team won't be broken apart. He feels there's still so much talent and potential to mine at Leverkusen.
He wants to stay true to himself and his work. When everyone expected him to sign for Borussia Monchengladbach, he resisted and extended his contract with Real Sociedad B.
He talks about not letting other people control your decisions - you need to do things when you have an intuition, when you feel the time is right and when you think it's your moment. Not when other people say it is.
Another point to make is that Liverpool will digest this development differently from Bayern because they've been very private and respectful over the process of Klopp's successor whereas the German giants were very public and chest-out about Alonso joining them.
The narrative coming out of Munich that if he didn't stay at Leverkusen this summer, he would become Bayern manager ignores the reality that his decision is an indictment on them. Alonso is effectively saying he believes Leverkusen can oust them again next season.
I think Alonso feels the Bayern job will come around again. In the time Jurgen Klopp has been at Liverpool, Bayern have had seven different head coaches. In contrast, a shot at the Liverpool job is rare.
It's unfortunate for him that's it come so soon but Alonso staying at Leverkusen fits perfectly into the timeline of succeeding Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid. As much as Leverkusen are happy with this news, so are Real.
Now there's no guarantees in football and he could suffer a dip next season but essentially, he's backing himself, his ability, his work.
Watch Liverpool's next Premier League game at home to Brighton this Sunday live on Sky Sports from 12.30pm, kick-off 2pm
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