Klopp delivers MASSIVE recommendation for Xabi Alonso

Jurgen Klopp has given a ringing endorsement to Xabi Alonso, the leading contender to replace him as Liverpool manager, describing him as the “standout” candidate.

Klopp stunned the football world in January by announcing his intention to stand down from the Liverpool hotseat at the end of the season.

Having spent close to nine years in the job, Klopp has won every major honour available to him but feels like he does not have the energy to go on as Reds boss.

Talk immediately turned to who could replace the 56-year-old on Merseyside and the early frontrunner was the Bayer Leverkusen manager Alonso.

The 42-year-old Spaniard is well known to Liverpool fans having won the Champions League and FA Cup during his playing days under Rafael Benitez at Anfield and is carving out an incredible reputation as a coach in the Bundesliga.

Alonso was appointed by Leverkusen in October 2022 with the club mired in a relegation fight but has led his side to the top of the Bundesliga, where they lead Bayern by a margin of five points.

With Alonso’s reputation growing by the week, Klopp has now offered his thoughts on the Spain World Cup winning ex-midfielder, and it is a glowing recommendation.

Alonso is the standout candidate according to Klopp

“Xabi is doing an incredible job,” he told the press on Friday. “If there would not be the rumours around, that’s ­completely independent. If you would have asked me eight weeks ago about Xabi Alonso I would have gone: ‘Oh my God.’

“The dinosaurs if you want – Ancelotti, Mourinho, Guardiola, maybe me – we will not do it for the next 20 years. OK, maybe Mourinho will. The next generation is already there and I would say Xabi is standout in that department.

“Former world-class player, from a coaching family as well which helps a little, he was like a coach already when he was playing. The football he is playing, the teams he sets up, the transfers he did, it is absolutely exceptional.”

Leverkusen have earned the plaudits this season for their front-foot football with players like Alex Grimaldo, Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz excelling in Alonso’s set-up.

Last weekend, Leverkusen blew title rivals Bayern Munich away in a 3-0 demolition which could well prove decisive in the race for the Bundesliga shield at the end of the season.

There was nothing lucky about their win against Bayern, an emphatic victory which impressed Klopp all the more for the manner in which it was carried out.

“I played a long time in the Bundesliga and it is super impressive,” he disclosed.

“Not only the points tally but the way they play. Leverkusen was clearly the better side in the first game against Bayern and that is rare. To be honest when we beat Bayern at Dortmund it was a bit of very well defended, counterattack and taking the momentum. Especially at the beginning.

“But Leverkusen were better. That was probably the real surprise given the short time he was there and it’s a young team. He has super signings for this team, exactly what they needed, and that’s really a very special job.

“Leverkusen has a very good chance to win the cup. When you look through the Europa League, Leverkusen is one of the favourites there as well so it could be the season for Leverkusen. Really crazy.”

Alonso was Real Sociedad’s B team coach from 2019 until his appointment at Leverkusen and ir has not taken him long to give his young team an identity, something which Klopp has noticed.

“How quick his team is that well tuned,” he said. “For the time it’s taken, he’s put his proper stamp on it.

“Nobody knows if that is always the way he wants to play or if it’s the way this team specifically plays, he is not long enough in the business to tell, but obviously the coaching part is exceptional. That is clear.”