Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has announced that he’s going into management, having retired at the end of last season.
The legendary Spaniard, a La Liga, Bundesliga, Champions League, World Cup and European Championship winner, hung up his boots after a glittering career that included spells at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
“After 17 years in the game, I have considered the next step in my career,” he wrote on Instagram, reported by Sky Sports. “I have decided to go into management. Find out [where] soon.”
It sounds like Alonso has already got his first role lined up – and we’d be surprised if it wasn’t in Spain – quite possibly at boyhood club Real Sociedad.
But we’d love Liverpool to contact the best passer we’ve maybe ever had and ask if he’d consider learning his ropes with us…
Steven Gerrard is managing the U18 side, but there’s plenty of other roles the midfielder could take up.
Interestingly, Gerrard once claimed if he was a manager, he’d pick Alonso as his Assistant:
“If, totally hypothetically, I was going to become Liverpool manager one day I know who I’d love to have as my assistant: Xabi Alonso or Jamie Carragher,” he wrote in My Story.
“They are very intelligent, have a deep knowledge of football and are special men.
“If I had smart people around me, and the right coaching team behind me, I like to think I could succeed as a manager.”
Imagine those two in the dugout, five years from now, taking the reigns from a trophy-laden Jurgen Klopp?!
Alonso rejected the chance to become Carlo Ancelotti’s no.2 in the summer though, so he may well have ambitions to go it solo – which is totally understandable.