Robbie Savage has urged Liverpool to secure Xabi Alonso as their next managerial appointment.
This follows Jurgen Klopp’s world-shaking exit announcement last week, calling time on what will be a nine-year stay with the Merseysiders.
“Roberto De Zerbi is doing a great job at Brighton, but you look at what happened to Graham Potter at Chelsea, so I don’t think he’ll be the one Liverpool go for either,” the former Brighton star was quoted as saying by Planet Sport.
“I would go for Xabi Alonso. What he’s done at Bayer Leverkusen has been fantastic and he knows Liverpool so well. Even though he’s been in the Leverkusen job a relatively short amount of time, the brand of football his side are playing makes him an outstanding candidate for Liverpool.
“Ange Postecoglou is the other one that I think comes into the reckoning. A lot of what he brought in at Spurs mirrors what Liverpool do, in that they have a high line in defence and also play high-energy, ‘heavy-metal’ football. For me, Postecoglou would be a great fit for Liverpool but I’m not sure it’s possible given the short amount of time he’s been at Spurs.
“If I was the director of football at Liverpool right now, the two names I’d want to interview would be Xabi Alonso and Ange Postecoglou. Both would suit the dynamic of Liverpool and would be great appointments, although I do think Alonso will more likely than not be the one that gets it.”
The former Reds midfielder has enjoyed an impressive career thus far, short as it is (65 senior games managed). He’s amassed a win percentage of 85.71% from 28 games this term with Bayer Leverkusen.
READ MORE: BBC pundit tips FSG to select 42-year-old coach to replace Jurgen Klopp
Could Liverpool sign Alonso?
Sources close to the situation in Germany have made clear that though an official clause is lacking, Alonso would be allowed to depart Leverkusen to a ‘top, top club’ owing to an unwritten gentleman’s agreement.
Liverpool must be one such club given the magnitude of the role and the 42-year-old’s former allegiance.
There should, however, be a certain amount of hesitance in our view.
We should be cautious…
Despite the fact the former Spanish international’s side plays a very attractive brand of football, 65 games in senior management doesn’t give our data crunchers a lot to work with.
There’s a risk that Alonso may not have the quality to translate his success in Germany over to Merseyside.
We’d like to hope, given our emotional connection to the man, that the opposite would be true of course.
We just simply don’t know enough at this stage.