Chelsea Reportedly In Talks with Xabi Alonso to Become Next Manager

When Liverpool’s autumn struggles continued into the new year and with the Reds now slumping towards the end of a disappointing season, there are serious doubts about the direction of the club and Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea was met with boos by an Anfield crowd that has grown impatient. Liverpool will likely still qualify for the Champions League, but a title winning side that brought in £450M of talent last summer still appears to lack any kind of a tactical identity in May and there is a growing sense that upper management is getting ready to persist with something that isn’t working. To make matters worse, a man many see as the ideal manager should Liverpool decide to make a chance is currently available in Xabi Alonso—but there are concerns he won’t be for long.

And it well could be that if the Reds aren’t interested, Alonso’s name will be off the table very, very soon. That’s because recent tentative whispers of potential Chelsea interest—some of which set Alonso out as their top target—were today kicked up a notch when The Athletic’s David Ornstein waded in to report that while nothing is close to being finalized, Chelsea have made contact and are currently in talks. Fair or not, if Alonso ends up at Chelsea due to a lack of Liverpool interest while the Reds persist with Slot, it will rather feel as though the club are setting themselves up for failure, as it would be a near certainty that with the first major stumble next season Anfield would descend into open revolt.

The club have gone out of their way to give Slot support through a difficult season, going further than any usual “back the manager” platitudes. They have held round tables with upper management and regularly insist via briefed journalists Slot is and will remain their man heading into next season. The tension between that and continuing poor performances and a lack of identity leads directly to situations like Saturday’s booing following the draw against Chelsea, the supporters feeling as if sporting directors Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes are telling them to ignore their own eyes.

Now, if Alonso joins Chelsea, the tension will ratchet up ten-fold. A few flashy summer signings and a good start to the season might briefly hold everything together, but continuing poor performances and a lack of identity—or just a couple of losses on the trot—and things could get very ugly in a hurry.