Liverpool's Dilemma: Xabi Alonso's Future and Club's Turmoil
Liverpool once imagined Xabi Alonso as the natural heir. The elegant midfielder who dictated games at Anfield, the cerebral coach who dazzled in Germany, the man to eventually step into the dugout and carry the club into a new era.
Now they want answers first.
According to AS, Liverpool will not move for Alonso as Arne Slot’s potential successor until they understand why his spell at Real Madrid collapsed so dramatically. The romance of a return has given way to a cold audit. The club cannot afford another misstep.
Slot’s Shine Fades
Slot arrived with a clear brief and an even clearer reputation. His first season could hardly have gone better: a calm, controlled march to the Premier League title, Liverpool back on top and seemingly built for the long haul. The contract until 2027 looked like security, not a risk.
This season has ripped that certainty apart.
Liverpool’s 2025-26 campaign has unravelled. More than €400 million spent, yet the team has crashed out of the Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup at the early stages. The title defence is long gone. Arsenal have surged clear, and Liverpool sit 20 points behind in fourth, a champion in name only.
That gap on the table mirrors the mood around the club. Slot’s ideas, once hailed as modern and sharp, are now being dissected with a scalpel. His playing style has drawn heavy, often brutal criticism in recent months. English media reports suggest the hierarchy are at least weighing up a change in the dugout.
And when Liverpool look around, one name still dominates the conversation.
Alonso Under the Microscope
Alonso has long been viewed as the frontrunner for the LFC hot seat. His tactical acumen, his connection with the club, his work in reshaping teams: all of it fits the profile Liverpool tend to chase.
But Madrid changed the picture.
His time there, according to several media reports, left a dressing room deeply divided. What should have been a statement appointment at one of the game’s super-clubs turned into a case study in how quickly a squad can fracture.
Tensions spiked in October. Key figures such as Vinicius Junior and Fede Valverde openly criticised his methods, particularly his long tactical meetings and extended video analysis. For some players, the detail felt suffocating. The sessions dragged. The buy-in wasn’t there.
Yet the dressing room was not united against him. Another faction stood firmly behind Alonso, convinced by his attempt to overhaul both system and style. They saw a coach trying to modernise a giant, not smother it. In their eyes, the complaints from certain stars were less about methodology and more about ego and status.
Vinicius became the lightning rod. Reports suggest that for the Brazilian, Alonso’s hierarchy did not mirror the freedom and prominence he had enjoyed under Carlo Ancelotti. The shift in standing cut deep. The noise around it grew louder.
A Dressing Room in Open Revolt
The atmosphere deteriorated quickly. According to those same reports, the disrespect from some players went far beyond private grumbling. A few are said to have pretended to sleep during tactical sessions, chatting while Alonso spoke, turning team meetings into a theatre of defiance.
For the players who backed the coach, it was infuriating. For Alonso himself, it was a line crossed.
The behaviour reportedly triggered a furious outburst from the Spaniard, who remains without a club since that Madrid implosion. At one point, stunned by what he saw in front of him, he is said to have snapped: “I didn’t realise I’d walked into a nursery here.”
That moment, symbolic or not, is exactly the kind of flashpoint Liverpool now want to understand. Was this a brilliant coach suffocated by a toxic core of untouchable stars, or a manager whose intensity and rigidity alienated a dressing room he needed to carry with him?
Liverpool’s Risk Calculation
This is the equation facing Liverpool’s hierarchy.
On one side, a current manager under contract until 2027, but leading a side that has slipped out of every cup early and fallen miles behind in the league. A project that looked stable now sits on fragile ground.
On the other, a club legend with a sharp football brain and a clear tactical identity, but a recent, very public failure at the highest level, marked by open dissent and a split dressing room.
Liverpool have lived through turbulence before. They know what happens when a managerial gamble goes wrong. That is why, before they hand Alonso the keys to a squad already under strain, they want to know exactly what went wrong in Madrid, who drove the conflict, and whether the same storm could hit Anfield.
If Slot’s days really are numbered, the next decision will define more than a season. It will decide whether Liverpool lean into the romance of a returning hero—or walk away from it, wary of another meltdown behind closed doors.
