Liverpool fans hold a special place for Xabi Alonso and the chances of him becoming our manager for this season was widely welcomed but Rafa Benitez has revealed a new side to the midfielder.
Speaking on the Overlap, our former manager shared: “Xabi Alonso is a very good player, a very clever person, and someone that is right.
“When we went for Gareth Barry, it was because he could play in three different positions and then we needed to sell. Xabi had an agreement; he was talking with one club and had an agreement.
“The year after, we played Standard de Liege for a Champions League qualifier and we had Javier Mascherano and Lucas Leiva in the Olympic Games, Steven Gerrard had a lower back problem, so we had to play [Damien] Plessis and Xabi. Xabi had an agreement with Arsenal and didn’t want to get cup tied.
“I told Jamie Carragher and Gerrard before the game that he had an agreement and doesn’t want to play, but he must because it is the most important game to qualify for the Champions League. Then when you were going out for the warm-ups, you said, ‘Poor Xabi.’ Not poor Xabi, he is playing for our club at this time. During the season he was our best player and didn’t go to Arsenal because he had to play [for us].
“We played against Lazio in our last pre-season friendly and the fans were clapping for Xabi, but he was going to Arsenal, the fans loved him.”
READ MORE: (Video) Rafa produces brilliant one-liner on £200m Gerrard and Carragher signing
It could certainly tarnish the reputation of the midfield maestro who was adored by so many supporters, seemingly whilst also plotting an exit to Arsenal at the same time.
There should always be a right to reply before judgement is made but it’ll be interesting to see what this does to the legacy of the current Bayer Leverkusen manager.
You can watch Benitez’s comments on Alonso (from 23:41) via The Overlap on YouTube:
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