Could Liverpool Replace Arne Slot With Xabi Alonso?

Arne Slot is thought to retain the faith of Liverpool’s hierarchy while Xabi Alonso is not considered to be a name on Liverpool’s “agenda,” even if the Dutch boss is moved on, according to a new report.

After a triumphant debut campaign, it has gone spectacularly downhill for Slot in his second season. Liverpool’s diminished standards are spelled out by the reaction to the club’s Champions League elimination at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain: many were simply happy to avoid a thrashing.

Comfortably adrift of Arsenal and Manchester City in the title race, Liverpool are instead locked in a scrap for Champions League qualification. Slot has previously insisted that he is confident of keeping his job regardless of Liverpool’s Premier League finish—Jürgen Klopp missed out on Europe’s premier club competition, he pointed out—and it appears that faith is justified.

In a punchy update during a Q&A session for The Athletic, David Ornstein was adamant that Liverpool intent to stick with Slot. When the prospect of Alonso was broached, the revered reporter dismissed any outside rumors as unfounded conjecture, repeatedly confirming he had heard no such whispers. “People might not like to hear that,” he wrote, “and if I’m proved wrong you can all laugh at me.”

This surprising stance spawns several questions about Liverpool’s delicate future for this season and beyond.

Why Are Liverpool So Keen on Keeping Arne Slot?

As has been previously reported, Liverpool’s faith in Slot stems from the belief that the Dutch boss has been dealt a bad hand and remains the right character to recover from such a nadir. This is, after all, the same manager who steered the club to their second-ever Premier League title.

However, since that triumph, Slot has been forced to manage a group of players torn apart by the tragedy of Diogo Jota’s passing.

There has also been the difficulty of bedding in so many new players who have been affected by an unforeseen injury crisis. Alexander Isak had only just returned from a freak leg break in time to see Hugo Ekitiké rupture his Achilles tendon by slipping over. The two strikers arrived in the same summer as Florian Wirtz for a combined fee of $432.8 million (£320 million) yet have only been able to play 116 minutes together.

As Slot himself has said, he feels “complete support” from the club’s owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), chief executive Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes. “The club knows what period of time we are in,” he pointedly added earlier this month.

The Telegraph have pedalled a similar line to The Athletic and several other outlets underscoring Slot’s job security. Yet, it may be worth noting that, while this information has likely come from club sources, it is in Liverpool’s best interest to present an image of stability. There would be nothing to gain from publicly briefing that the current boss is a dead man walking while he still needs to motivate the squad to secure Champions League qualification.

Yet, the reluctance to consider Alonso as a potential successor is curious.

What Concerns Could Liverpool Have With Xabi Alonso?

Alonso’s Real Madrid tenure is a perfect example of the unique challenges facing any manager of the Spanish giants. The former Madrid midfielder was relieved of his duties on Jan. 12, after winning 20 of his 28 matches this season. Despite losing a chaotic Spanish Super Cup final to Barcelona, Madrid remained within four points of their Catalan rivals at La Liga’s summit and were sat in the top eight of the Champions League league phase table.

Since Alonso’s exit, the gap to Barcelona has more than doubled while Madrid have crashed out of the Champions League and Copa del Rey. Álvaro Arbeloa has already lost more games than his predecessor in nine fewer matches.

Yet, by the end of Alonso’s tenure, his position seemed untenable. The tactician fell into the trap of being a coach rather than a manager, forever failing to get a grip on all the big personalities in Real Madrid’s dressing room. That shouldn’t be as much of an issue at Liverpool, where the role of “manager” has been replaced with “head coach.” Yet, Alonso’s tactical tendancies could be working against him.

It has been claimed that Alonso’s preference for a back-three has made Liverpool wary, per The Times. The case of Ruben Amorim—who was turned down by the Reds before he joined Manchester United partly because of his devotion to a 3-4-2-1 system—was raised as a cautionary tale. Liverpool barely have two fit center backs most weeks so the demand for three would put an unwanted strain on an already jumbled roster.

What Next for Liverpool?

Florian Wirtz, Iliman Ndiaye, Liverpool vs. Everton — A first Merseyside derby at the Hill Dickinson awaits. | Steven Halliwell/MI News/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Whether Slot’s job is safe for the 2026–27 season could perhaps be debated, yet there is little doubt that he will oversee Liverpool’s final six games of the campaign.

First up for the scrutinized Dutchman is the maiden Merseyside derby at Everton’s new Hill Dickinson stadium. Incidentally, it was David Moyes who set the template for how to unsettle Slot’s side at Goodison Park’s final derby last February. Everton battled their way to a 2–2 draw with a long-ball approach which robbed Liverpool of the chance to press them, establishing an avenue of success that several subsequent sides have ploughed down.

Liverpool then host a Crystal Palace side which won’t be adverse to an aerial assault before a daunting conclusion to the campaign. The Reds are up against Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa in the race for Champions League qualification and just so happen to face all three teams in May. Slot finishes the season, if not his Liverpool tenure, with a visit from Brentford.

Liverpool’s Remaining Premier League Fixtures

Date	Fixture	Reverse Result
Sunday, April 19	Everton (A)	2–1 W
Saturday, April 25	Crystal Palace (H)	2–1 L
Sunday, May 3	Man Utd (A)	2–1 L
Saturday, May 9	Chelsea (H)	2–1 L
Sunday, May 17	Aston Villa (A)	2–0 W
Sunday, May 24	Brentford (H)	3–2 L

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