Alonso urged to stay at Leverkusen by title-winning Madrid legend

Xabi Alonso is at the top of the list for both Liverpool and Bayern Munich this summer with his Bayer Leverkusen side top of the Bundesliga and seemingly set for a first-ever German league title.

The 42-year-old’s managerial ascent has been rapid since moving to the BayArena in October 2022, transforming the team from relegation contenders to champions-elect.

Liverpool are in the midst of a chase to replace outgoing manager Jurgen Klopp with Alonso installed as early frontrunner back in January.

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The ex-midfielder won the Champions League and FA Cup among other honours during his playing days at Anfield and comes with the endorsement of Klopp as the outstanding coach of his generation.

Bayern, too, are keen on adding Alonso, who represented them as a player between 2014 and 2017 under Pep Guardiola. He won three Bundesliga titles and a multitude of other trophies at the Allianz Arena.

Bayern and Liverpool want Alonso as manager

With the pick of the jobs this summer, it promises to be an intriguing time for the Spanish World Cup winner, with the possibility of remaining with Leverkusen not ruled out either.

Alonso has a contract until 2026 with club officials optimistic of holding him to the terms of his deal.

A man who understands the situation is Bernd Schuster. Once a legendary midfielder in his own right, the German starred for both Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga as well as Leverkusen in his homeland.

He was Getafe manager for the 2006-07 season, guiding his side into Europe, and had the opportunity to return to the Bernabeu in the managerial hotseat instead of staying put with Getafe and giving Europe a crack.

It was a chance he grasped with both hands, winning the Spanish top-flight title at the first time of asking, but his reign quickly fell apart amid poor relationships with the media.

Schuster warns Alonso about "too much, too soon"

Schuster, 64, has now warned Alonso against going for “too much too soon” and instead urged him to consider sticking with Leverkusen in the long term.

“Xabi’s situation reminds me of a similar situation I was in a few years ago,” Schuster told Bild. “Back then, I coached my team Getafe into the UEFA Cup and then went to Real Madrid.

“Afterwards I thought to myself that I would have liked to have played with Getafe as a smaller club in the UEFA Cup. This was the first time in Europe for this club in its history and would therefore have been a very nice story. So it’s hard to decide.

“I would understand Xabi in every decision he makes. But what I can say for sure is that sometimes you have to be careful not to want everything too quickly. As a young coach you still have a lot to learn.

“And if, like Xabi, you already have your own team that he has strongly brought together and developed, it is also a really interesting task to go one step further with this team.”