Xabi Alonso has officially taken himself out of the running to be Jurgen Klopp’s successor. The former Liverpool midfielder, who has been strongly linked with a return to his old club, announced today that he will stay at his current club, Bayer Leverkusen.
Alonso had also been strongly linked with Bayern Munich, who will be looking for a replacement to Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season.
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“It has been a season with a lot of speculation regarding my future,” Alonso said on Friday.
“I wanted to use the international break to reflect a little bit better and to take a decision. Last week, I had a good meeting with Simon [Rolfes, the club’s sporting director] with Fernando [Carro, CEO], when I informed them of my decision to continue being coach of Bayer Leverkusen.
“For sure all the decisions, you need to analyse well, and I tried to take the right ones, I tried to take the ones that come in a natural way, and at this moment I feel this is the right place for me to be to develop as a coach.
“I am a young coach, but I have to feel it, and right now I feel that this is the right place.”
Reports circulated yesterday that Liverpool had ruled out the idea of appointing Xabi Alonso. And that came on the heels of a quote made by honorary Bayern President Uli Hoeness, who said yesterday that Munich’s hiring Alonso this summer would be “probably impossible.”
As it now stands, Ruben Amorim is the new favorite to become the next Liverpool manager. Amorim, like his role model/idol Jose Mourinho, enjoys trash talking his opponents.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.