Are the stars aligning for Xabi Alonso to return to Liverpool? | OneFootball

Cast your minds back to the 26th of January, 2024.

A day that no Liverpool fan will forget.

Completely out of the blue, midway through Friday morning, Jurgen Klopp announced he was leaving the club.

As we all digested the news that the era-defining coach was to step down at the end of the season, attention swiftly turned to who would take on the unenviable task of succeeding him.

There was one name on everyone’s lips that day. The most obvious choice.

No, not Arne Slot. The Dutch coach was making waves at Feyenoord and had made a few headlines in the English sports media by rejecting both Leeds United and Tottenham, but it would be a few weeks before the news began to filter through that he was the chosen one.

That day, Xabi Alonso seemed the perfect fit. He was proving himself one of the best young coaches in Europe. And he already had a connection to Liverpool, one of the star players in the miracle of Istanbul and undoubtedly one of their greatest midfielders of the Premier League era.

We were as guilty as anyone of anointing Alonso as Klopp’s successor, declaring him the “natural heir” to the throne and even drawing up a shortlist of perfect signings for Alonso’s Liverpool (including – ahem – Florian Wirtz).

In the hours after the Klopp bombshell, Alonso had a wry smile as he was inevitably asked the question in a Bayer Leverkusen press conference.

“Well, first of all, it was a surprise,” the Spaniard told reporters with a wry smile.

“But as well, I have huge respect for Jurgen, huge admiration.

“Before coming to Liverpool and during his years, it has been bigger and it has grown, what he has achieved and the way he has achieved that.

“At the moment I am really happy here, I am enjoying my work here. I am feeling that each day is a challenge, each game is a challenge, and we are in an intense and beautiful journey at Leverkusen.

“I am trying to give my best to help my players be ready for the next thing, that’s my goal. What will come next, I don’t know.”

The links continued on to rumble on. There were suggestions that Liverpool had directly approached Alonso, having identified him as their first choice.

Speculation didn’t derail Alonso’s Leverkusen. They remained unbeaten on all fronts, eventually completing a historic Invincible campaign in Germany to win both the Bundesliga and the DFB Pokal.

They showed a remarkable knack for late drama, their team spirit and never-say-die attitude one of their key strengths as they habitually scored vital last-gasp goals. Florian Wirtz was blossoming into one of the best playmakers in Europe. The 3-4-2-1 system was proving unbeatable.

As the season went on, Alonso’s reputation was only enhanced.

Things couldn’t have been going better when he finally brought an end to the speculation, announcing his decision to remain at Leverkusen for at least one more season. He would not be succeeding Klopp. Liverpool would need to look elsewhere.

“It’s been a season where we’ve had a lot of speculation regarding my future, until now we’ve had so many games, we’ve been pretty busy and focused,” Alonso told reporters in March.

“I wanted to use that time in the international break and take a decision and last week I had a very good meeting with Simon [Rolfes, managing director], Fernando [Carro, CEO] and informed them of my decision to continue being coach of Bayer Leverkusen.”

That ship sailed, then.

The 2024-25 campaign only further gave us reason to believe it just wasn’t meant to be.

Slot did a remarkable job to guide Liverpool to the Premier League title, surely cementing his place in the job for years to come.

Alonso couldn’t repeat any fairytales in his second full season at the BayArena, but it became increasingly obvious he’d been earmarked to succeed Carlo Ancelotti in the Spanish capital. Sure enough, that came to pass in the summer.

Come June, as Liverpool deliriously celebrated their first title in over 30 years in front of fans, and Alonso was gearing up to take charge of Los Blancos at the Club World Cup, all talk of a romantic reunion was dead in the water.

It was unthinkable that six months on those links would reemerge, but here we are.

Liverpool’s title defence has been a disaster. Slot has failed to get performances out of the summer’s most expensive additions. Star man Mohamed Salah is in open revolt, admitting he has “no relationship” with the coach.

They’re 10 points off league leaders Arsenal, having won fewer than half of their Premier League outings so far. Results might soon necessitate a change in the dugout.

Over in Madrid, Alonso is feeling the heat. Even when they were flying high, in the wake of an excellent victory over Barcelona, The Athletic ran a report alleging serious friction in the dressing room. It’s said that a number of key figures, in particular Vinicius Junior, are unhappy with his coaching style.

And results since then have only cranked up the pressure.

Madrid have only won two of their last seven outings in all competitions, suffered a chastening defeat to Slot’s out-of-form Liverpool in the Champions League, and dropped points to Rayo Vallecano, Elche, Girona and Celta Vigo, leaving them four points behind Barcelona in the La Liga title race.

By Christmas, we might genuinely be looking at a scenario whereby Liverpool are looking for a manager and Alonso is out of work.