Arne Slot won the Premier League in his first season at Liverpool. He is now managing through one of the club's most turbulent campaigns in years, and the shadow of his potential replacement has never loomed larger.
Liverpool have lost ten Premier League games this season. They sit fifth in the table, five points behind the top four. Mohamed Salah has confirmed he is leaving. The club have been eliminated from no competition yet, remaining in the Champions League quarter-finals against PSG, but the domestic picture is bleak. For a club that won the title twelve months ago, the drop in standards has been stark.
Despite all of this, Liverpool's board have not moved against Slot. Multiple reports this week confirmed that the club's hierarchy remain supportive of the Dutchman, pointing to a series of extenuating circumstances: the injuries that disrupted the squad in the first half of the season, the difficulty of retaining the standards of a title-winning campaign, and the ongoing contract saga involving Salah that destabilised the dressing room in December. The official position is that Slot will be in charge next season.
But the Xabi Alonso story has changed the temperature. BILD reported this week that Alonso's agent, Inaki Ibanez, has confirmed concrete interest from Liverpool. Michael Edwards has stayed in contact with the Spaniard throughout this season, even through the title win in 2024-25. That kind of sustained dialogue is not normal background noise. It is a club keeping a door open.
Alonso's conditions are clear. He wants control over squad planning. He will not accept another situation like Real Madrid, where he operated without that authority and lasted only months. Liverpool are a club that can offer him that, particularly as they navigate the post-Salah era and a squad that will need significant reshaping regardless of who manages it.
The next two months will be decisive. If Liverpool qualify for the Champions League through the league or by winning it, Slot's position becomes stronger. If they do not, the conversation about Alonso becomes something else entirely. And by all accounts, that conversation is already underway.
