Liverpool next manager: Bundesliga boss ‘firmly in the frame’ to replace Klopp as Reds release clause is revealed

Joe Williams
Liverpool legends Xabi Alonso and Jurgen Klopp
Xabi Alonso has been linked with replacing Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool have the chance to appoint former midfielder Xabi Alonso as their new manager in the summer, according to reports.

Jurgen Klopp announced on Friday that he will be leaving Anfield at the end of the season after admitting he cannot continue to “do the job again and again and again and again”.

Explaining his decision, Klopp said: “Last season was kind of a super-difficult season and there were moments when at other clubs probably the decision would have been, ‘Come on, thank you very much for everything but probably we should split here, or end it here’ That didn’t happen here, obviously.

“For me it was super, super, super-important that I can help to bring this team back onto the rails. It was all I was thinking about.

“When I realised pretty early that happened, it’s a really good team with massive potential and a super age group, super characters and all that, then I could start thinking about myself again and that was the outcome. It is not what I want to [do], it is just what I think is 100 per cent right.”

Klopp has been at Anfield since 2015 when he left Borussia Dortmund to take on the Liverpool role with the German winning six major trophies, including a Premier League and a Champions League.

READ MORE: ‘Modern-day Don Revie’ Jurgen Klopp will leave a Liverpool legacy like Arsene Wenger’s…

They will be big shoes to fill but already people are pointing to former Liverpool midfielder Alonso – who is working miracles at Bayer Leverkusen – as his potential successor.

When asked if he has ever dreamt of taking over Liverpool as manager, Alonso told Guillem Balague in 2018: “Yes for sure, I have dreamt of that, but first I have to prove myself and prepare.

“If I decide somewhere along the way to take my chances as a manager, my link, my commitment, my passion with Liverpool is there. Why not? We will see if we can cross paths in our ways.”

And now FourFourTwo claims that Alonso is ‘firmly in the frame’ for the Liverpool job after the long-serving manager in the Premier League announced his imminent departure.

Alonso has guided Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga this season with Die Schwarzroten four points ahead of Bayern Munich and are yet to lose a league match this term.

And the report adds that, although Alonso is contracted to Leverkusen until 2026, he has a release clause in his contract which allows him to move to any of his major former clubs: Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.

READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp leaving Liverpool: Reds boss behind four others in top 10 Prem managers list