Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness says that Real Madrid, Liverpool, and his club are working on drawing young manager Xabi Alonso away from Bayer Leverkusen this summer.
Thomas Tuchel is leaving Bayern and Jurgen Klopp will exit Liverpool this summer, while recently signed a contract extension at Real Madrid through the 2025-26 season (though Real president Florentino Perez loves a splash and the club hasn’t kept a manager for more than three years since Vicente del Bosque left after the 2003 season).
[ MORE: Klopp on Liverpool’s title push ]
Leverkusen have a 10-point lead on the Bundesliga field during Alonso’s second season at the helm. Well-decorated as a player for Spain as well as clubs Liverpool, Real, and Bayern, Alonso took his first steps in management with Real Sociedad B from 2019-22.
Alonso took over at Leverkusen in early October 2022 with the club in 17th after a brutal 1W-2D-5L start to the season and led the club to a sixth-place finish and a semifinal exit to Roma in the Europa League. Leverkusen have only dropped points four times in the Bundesliga this season, wen 6-0 in its UEL group, and came back to beat Qarabag in the Round of 16. West Ham is next.
What did Uli Hoeness say about Xabi Alonso and Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern?
Hoeness, speaking to Ran Sport (via Sky Germany), said that Alonso has proven himself capable of running the world’s biggest clubs and said that “clubs like Liverpool, Real Madrid, Leverkusen and FC Bayern are working on it.”
Sky reports that Alonso would cost a suitor at least $16 million, with $27 million being the high end. There will be a $16 million exit clause to be activated next summer (2025).
Hoeness also said the Bayern search is not an easy one due to manager inavailability.
“There are hardly any coaches who come into question who are currently free, who don’t have a job or who are on sabbatical.”
“It’s not so easy to tell them that FC Bayern is the measure of all things.”
Is Xabi Alonso a home run for Liverpool, others?
Xabi Alonso the player saw the game better than most, and his early managerial experience shows a man capable of great things.
Leverkusen looks likely to end Bayern Munich’s 11-season hold on the Meisterschale, and the club has never won the German top flight. Leverkusen finished second as recently as the 2010-11 season.
Alonso’s engineered the league’s stingiest defense in terms of both goals conceded and xGA, and Leverkusen’s also the third-best scoring attack in the Bundesliga. Expected points is a bit of a different story, as Bayern’s five full xPTS higher than Leverkusen despite trailing by 10 points on the table.
Leverkusen have only conceded 10 times from open play in league play this season, an area of the game in which they have a +40 goal differential and +198 shots advantage. They’re also doing it without a single talisman. Though Florian Wirtz is a phenom, his 17 goal involvements are second to Alex Grimaldo and make him one of five players with double-digit goal involvements this season.
Grimaldo and Wirtz are 1-2 in the Bundesliga for assists, while Granit Xhaka and Exequiel Palacios are pacing the league in accurate passes per 90, and Victor Boniface is second in shots per 90. Lukas Hradecky has been fantastic between the sticks.
And clubs like Leverkusen rarely keep all their talent for many years, making it as interesting for Alonso to leave than at any other time. His star has risen high, and Grimaldo will join Wirtz and Jonathan Tah as red-hot transfer items. Leverkusen, after all, sold Moussa Diaby this summer, Leon Bailey a couple seasons before that, and Kai Havertz and Julian Brandt the previous two campaigns (And, honestly, Liverpool would love Wirtz, too).
Alonso would be brave to take the reins from Klopp, but it’s also one of his former clubs and the Spaniard loves Liverpool. He’d get more leeway than most new bosses there. If Leverkusen wins the Bundesliga, then Alonso will likely move on to greener pastures. He may be a calculated risk at his young age (42). Though the Bayern and Liverpool jobs being open at the same time may pull hard on both heartstrings, the Premier League job would allow him to leave Leverkusen a club legend with no real animus for joining the giant across Germany.
