Steve McManaman believes Xabi Alonso has a “desire” to manage Liverpool after leaving Real Madrid, but doesn’t want it to come at the expense of Arne Slott

Former Liverpool teammate Alvaro Arbeloa has taken over the top job at the Bernabéu.

Alonso was under pressure after an underwhelming seven-month spell at the club after replacing Carlo Ancelotti in the summer of 2025.

All eyes are immediately on Alonso’s next move, having previously enjoyed success as head coach of Bayer Leverkusen.

He led the club to the first Bundesliga title in its history, and his name subsequently became associated with big jobs across Europe.

One of those jobs was at Liverpool, where the club he played 210 games for was looking for a replacement for Jurgen Klopp, one of the greatest managers of all time.

‘Huge shock’ – McManaman reacts to ‘troublesome’ Alonso departure

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Instead, the job went to Arne Slott. Despite winning the Premier League title in his first season in charge, he has faced increased pressure after a disappointing run this season.

Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa are all ahead of Liverpool at the top of the table, but Slott’s side face a battle to finish in the top eight in the league stage of the UEFA Champions League, which could help them avoid the play-offs to reach the knockout stages.

Regarding Slott’s position, McManaman said: “Depending on who you ask, some people have already started talking about some of their form. If Liverpool don’t show what they’re good at, that’s going to continue.”

“In your life as a football manager, the pressure comes back on after 90 minutes, but the fact that Xavi is available now and you look at his history at the club, you know there’s always pressure.

“But Xavi will be wanted by a lot of clubs that he has worked for. So I don’t think it’s necessarily pressure for Arne Slott because he’s putting pressure on himself anyway.”

Alonso recently spoke about whether he would like to be Liverpool manager someday, saying: “Of course I have ties to my former club, but for now this is where I belong. I don’t know what will happen in the future.”

Asked why he didn’t explore the opportunity to replace Klopp during his time as Leverkusen manager, Alonso said: “At that time we were focused. We had important things to do with the players and we were really focused on that.”

McManaman believes the evidence so far shows Alonso is keen to return to Anfield at some point.

McManaman added: “Xavi had a clause in his contract at Leverkusen that allowed him to talk to a number of his former teams, as well as Manchester City. It was a known fact.

“So I’m sure there is a desire in his heart to be a manager here. But I don’t think that should affect the current manager.”

“He’s a young man, Xavi. He could be in business for another 25 years if he wanted to, so that could happen soon.”