Manchester City in contention for exciting deal, Liverpool now out of the race | OneFootball

Real Madrid are also an option for Alonso, according to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, who says that Liverpool are now out of the race to hire their former player as they’re happy with how Arne Slot has done since making the move to Anfield this summer.

Alonso has done hugely impressive work at Leverkusen, leading the club to their first ever Bundesliga title last season, and doing so without losing a league game.

The Spanish tactician also led Leverkusen to the Europa League final, though they suffered a surprise defeat to Atalanta, but in general it’s easy to imagine him being a huge success at a top club like City or Real.

Xabi Alonso – where next for the Bayer Leverkusen manager?

See below for details from Plettenberg on Alonso’s future…

City fans won’t want to lose Guardiola after the immense success he’s had at the Etihad Stadium, but if he is to leave then Alonso could be the dream replacement.

Still, Real Madrid will also surely be one to watch here as Carlo Ancelotti probably can’t go on forever, even if he continues to do a fantastic job at the Bernabeu.

It would be exciting to see Alonso in the Premier League, but you’d have to fear for the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal if he ends up replacing Guardiola at City.

Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

MCFC have already been so dominant under one of the very finest managers of all time, and it looks like Alonso has what it takes to be the next Guardiola after working miracles at Leverkusen.

Slot has made a great start at Liverpool, but there’ll surely be a few Reds fans who’ll be gutted to see their former player managing one of their biggest rivals.