In addition to officially distancing himself from taking over for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, Roberto De Zerbi has elevated one of the front-runners for the position.
Xabi Alonso was positioned as one of the favorites to succeed the German after he announced last week that he would be leaving the team at the end of this campaign. The Athletic then revealed that the Bayer Leverkusen manager is “an early frontrunner” to take over at Anfield later this year.
In an interview with Cronache Di Spogliatoio, the Italian stated that his entire attention is focused on his current position at the Amex Stadium. His Brighton rival has also been mentioned as a potential candidate for the Reds.
In reference to Alonso’s fit for the Liverpool manager position, De Zerbi stated: “He is doing an amazing job.” His group performs incredibly well. The fashion is well defined. Three years ago, he was already an excellent coach for Real Sociedad’s second team, and he is continuing to show this at a fantastic club like Bayer Leverkusen.
Because of his allegiance to his current employers, De Zerbi would unavoidably downplay any rumors about his possible departure from Brighton, although one would wonder if he would secretly want to be the future manager of Liverpool.
But if Alonso keeps his word when speaking to the public, he would undoubtedly be a very popular pick to take on the difficult job of replacing Klopp at Anfield.
Before taking over as Reds manager, he might lead Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title this season. This would create a nice symmetry with the current LFC manager, who was the last manager to lead a team other than Bayern Munich to the German Bundesliga title (with Borussia Dortmund in 2012).
Die Werkself, who are the second-highest scorers in their league with 50 goals, and who also concede the fewest goals—just 14 before this weekend’s games—are finding a very fine balance with the 42-year-old.
It’s likely that Alonso would be doing a fantastic job if he were to return to Liverpool as manager and maintain those kinds of results past the halfway point of the season. If the choice of Klopp’s replacement were being made right now, he would undoubtedly be the clear favorite to inherit the keys to the Anfield kingdom.
