Alonso wants to ‘build’ Liverpool around five players, including two signings, as Slot ‘needs miracle’ | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso has identified five Liverpool players he wants to ‘build’ around next season if he replaces Arne Slot at Anfield, according to reports.

The Reds spent over £400m in the summer transfer window after Slot won the Premier League title in his first season in charge at Anfield.

But things have not gone to plan for Liverpool this season with the Reds currently fifth in the Premier League and 21 points adrift of leaders Arsenal, who they finished ten points ahead of last term.

And that has seen the pressure pile on Slot in recent months with a number of reports claiming that the Liverpool head coach faces the sack at the end of the season unless he can secure Champions League football at a minimum.

Defeat to Brighton at the weekend has seen Liverpool slip five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa, while Chelsea are just a single point adrift with Brentford and Everton a further two points away.

German publication Bild struck a very different tone with the newspaper insisting that Slot is ‘on the verge of being sacked’ and that Alonso is ‘expected to arrive in the summer’ with the former Real Madrid head coach ‘ready to join’.

But an account on X made up of ‘five elite reporters’ has revealed that Slot ‘needs a miracle to keep his job’ past the end of the season.

The account wrote: ‘The reports we’ve seen that Arne Slot’s job is safe next season are very different from what we’ve been hearing. Arne Slot needs a miracle to keep his job. Senior players are baffled by his tactics this season.’

And the account with over 700k followers has revealed that, if given the job, Alonso is looking to ‘build’ his attack around Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz, plus potential new signings Yan Diomande and Michael Olise.

The report added: ‘Xabi Alonso, if appointed manager at @LFC, wants to build the attack around Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz, Diomande, Olise. This is the ideal plan.’

When asked over the weekend about the uncertainty over his future, Slot told reporters: “It makes complete sense if you win the win league last season and you’ve spent £150m – not £450m – that expectations are high.

“And those expectations were high for the pundits, for the media, for me, for the fans.

“But still it’s not good enough, no matter how many excuses I can come up with. It’s still not good enough in the position we’re in right now.”