Liverpool supporters have been dealt a blow this weekend after confirmation arrived that former midfielder Xabi Alonso is all set to become Chelsea’s new manager.
Many fans had been hoping to see Alonso replace Arne Slot at Anfield this year, with some holding out hope that his presence on the managerial market would force the Liverpool owners‘ hand in sacking Slot.
But that has not happened, and Alonso is now ready to take over at one of the Reds’ biggest domestic rivals.
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It will be strange for supporters to see their former player of five years in the dugout for the Blues, with a long-held feeling that Alonso was destined to become Liverpool manager one day now seemingly shattered.
While that does not have to be the case, Liverpool fans should remember that this was a man who, as a player, tried to quietly force a move to Arsenal. His bond with the Reds seemingly only goes one way, and after this latest disappointment, should now be over.
Alonso wanted to join Arsenal in 2008
17 years ago, when Alonso exited Liverpool for Real Madrid, it was seen as being the culmination of a row with Rafa Benitez, who had tried to replace him with Gareth Barry one year previously.
Most fans sided with the player, who had always proclaimed to love the club and the city.
However, as Benitez revealed in August 2024, he had been actively pursuing Barry not because he wanted Alonso to leave, but rather because the midfielder himself had been looking to make a switch to Arsenal in 2008.
“When we went for Gareth Barry, it was because he could play in three different positions and then we needed to sell [to sign Barry],” the former manager told The Overlap. “Xabi had an agreement; he was talking with one club and had an agreement.
“The year after, we played Standard Liege for a Champions League qualifier and we had Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva in the Olympic Games, Steven Gerrard had a lower back problem, so we had to play [Damien] Plessis and Xabi. Xabi had an agreement with Arsenal and didn’t want to get cup tied.
“I told Jamie Carragher and Gerrard before the game that he had an agreement and doesn’t want to play, but he must because it is the most important game to qualify for the Champions League.
“Then when you [Carragher] were going out for the warm-ups, you said, ‘Poor Xabi.’ Not poor Xabi, he is playing for our club at this time. During the season he was our best player and didn’t go to Arsenal because he had to play [for us].”
Will Alonso still manage Liverpool one day?
Benitez’s anecdote was not widely known at the time, and it may have come as a surprise to Liverpool fans that Alonso was willing to sit out of a game he was needed in in order to force through a move to a Premier League rival.
But after agreeing to now join Chelsea, a picture is forming of a man who perhaps does not quite hold Liverpool in as high a regard as initially believed.
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This sounds like it was aimed at Slot…
Had the Reds come in for Alonso this summer, maybe he would have agreed to join them. It does feel likely that that would have been the case.
Nevertheless, there are numerous other jobs he could have taken as well. That he is willing not only to join one of Liverpool’s biggest rivals, but one in such disarray on and off the pitch, shows that his regard for Liverpool fans is not what it was once claimed to be.
Whether he fails or succeeds at Chelsea, it is now difficult to see how Alonso ever ends up in the dugout at Anfield.
Nothing is impossible in football, but if he fails, his reputation will take a big hit, if he succeeds, his association with Liverpool will be diminished. He tried to end his connection with the Reds back in 2008. 18 years on, and Alonso has finally succeeded.
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