Journalists in Germany claim that Liverpool are in contact with Xabi Alonso over the soon-to-be-vacant manager’s job, with talks even said to be “advanced.”
While Jurgen Klopp leads his injury-hit side through an exceptional run of form, in the background the search goes on for his successor.
Led by Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon and assisted by director of research William Spearman, the club are assessing a number of candidates.
Alonso is considered the favourite, ahead of the likes of Roberto De Zerbi and Ruben Amorim, but the Spaniard is currently focused on a title charge with Bayer Leverkusen.
However, amid interest from Bayern Munich as Thomas Tuchel prepares to depart at the end of the season, reports in Germany claim Liverpool are already in talks with their former midfielder.
Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg reports that both Liverpool and Bayern have made contact with the 42-year-old.
Writing on Twitter, Plettenberg claims that Alonso’s representatives have been approached, with the chances of Bayern hiring him described as “very difficult.”
Meanwhile, kicker journalist Georg Holzner went further in claiming that Alonso is “already in advanced discussions” with Liverpool.
Holzner adds that Bayern will “give everything” to hire their top candidate, but names Zinedine Zidane, Hansi Flick, Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness and Aston Villa‘s Unai Emery as managers who are “also being watched.”
The emergence of Bayern as a rival of sorts for Alonso’s affections could be seen as a setback for Liverpool as they search for Klopp’s successor.
But with Alonso looking to play down any talk over his future and focusing solely on the current campaign with Leverkusen, the frequency of updates from Munich suggest it could be more to do with disrupting the title race.
In all likelihood, Liverpool have approached the representatives of a number of candidates to gauge interest in taking over from Klopp.
That will be key to the club’s due diligence in the early weeks since Klopp announced his resignation, with advances prior to that muted in order to keep the story under wraps.
However, the claim that Liverpool’s talks with Alonso are “advanced” could be encouraging, with the hope being that a deal is agreed long before the summer.
It should be noted, though, that Holzner also revealed that “staying at Leverkusen is far from being ruled out.”
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