XABI ALONSO is now firmly established as the hottest young coach in world football.
The former Spain maestro has been in charge of the German side Bayer Leverkusen for a little over a year and they currently sit top of the Bundesliga.
However, looking at the league table only tells part of the story with Leverkusen also being one of the most exciting and progressive sides in European football.
Having played under the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, there is no doubt Alonso enjoyed a second to none education enhanced by his natural curiosity of the finer details.
After hanging up his boots Alonso took his first job coaching Real Sociedad B in Spain's lower leagues, far away from the media spotlight.
He eventually signed for Leverkusen in October 2022 with a project to rebuild their season.
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A year later and Leverkusen are one of the most interesting teams in the game with not only an incredibly incisive attack but a solid and well-put-together defence.
Despite being relatively young and inexperienced as a coach, the narrative now is that Alonso will be the first choice for whichever super club decides to part ways with their coach first.
Though that does not mean Alonso will jump at the first offer.
We have already seen him remain patient as he waited for the right opportunity and that raises an interesting question, what would be the right opportunity and next step?
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Manchester United
Probably Liverpool fans' worst nightmare.
While Alonso became a legend at Anfield there is no guarantee he would refuse a move to a club like Manchester United purely out of loyalty to the Reds.
Indeed, Alonso has always had a pragmatic approach to his career.
Among the European elite Man Utd feels like the one that is most likely to make a change in the coaching position in the near future.
Erik ten Hag has been under increasing pressure since the start of this season and the Dutchman has been struggling to find consistent solutions to the clubs problems on the pitch.
The Red Devils have the makings of a strong squad but are missing a clear tactical identity.
This is something Alonso would provide, with one of the key tactical concepts behind his Leverkusen team being the way they set up out of possession and defend with aggression in transition.
Leverkusen press and counter press aggressively in an attempt to win the ball back as close to the opposition goal as possible.
One of the biggest keys to the success so far that Alonso has had at Leverkusen has been their use of pace in the attack and in the wide areas.
Alonso likes his team to control possession but to also have the option of using pace to quickly attack space behind the opposition’s defensive line.
Man Utd's attack has pace in abundance with the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund.
But the lack of structure around it means pressing and counter pressing is not as effective as it could be.
While Leverkusen have become a very strong attacking unit under Alonso, they are also impressive defensively and a big part of that is the fact they defend aggressively from the front.
There is no doubt that should Alonso make the choice to move to Old Trafford at some point in his career he will create a well-structured and effective pressing unit.
Liverpool
Is this the ideal situation for Liverpool?
Jurgen Klopp will certainly go down as one of the most successful and popular coaches in the clubs history.
But when he leaves Liverpool fans would be heavily in favour of appointing a coach who has such a strong connection to the club.
Klopp, when he was at Mainz and Dortmund, and Alonso share a proactive approach to their coaching, with both favouring attacking football at tempo and connection to their players.
However, Alonso is better at creating a dominant attacking structure than Klopp was when he first moved to England.
So far this season at Leverkusen have used their advanced midfielders and wingbacks to really push forward and occupy more advanced attacking spaces.
Leverkusen create a lot of danger in possession with the way they move players into high positions early as they look to stretch the width of the pitch.
This forces the opposition to defend in a wider structure and creates space centrally for their advanced midfielders to exploit.
One of the flaws in this current Liverpool system is they are too slow to push midfield players into more advanced areas since moving to a ball-dominant system.
This is despite Liverpool having moved on from a more functional midfield with the likes of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson moving on.
Liverpool have started the season strongly following last seasons disappointment and this suggests it is unlikely the club would choose to make a change in the short term.
It is entirely conceivable, however, that at the end of the season, Klopp could choose to call time on his tenure at the club and then Alonso becomes a very intriguing choice.
Newcastle
No club in European football can match the financial strength of Newcastle.
Since buying the club in 2021 the new owners, Saudi Arabia's public investment fund, have been patient.
Although there is every chance Newcastle will eventually look to move on from Eddie Howe, and a coach of Alonso's calibre would make a lot of sense.
One of the most interesting aspects of the way Alonso has set Leverkusen up is the way they play in a compact style in possession.
This means the central defenders and wingbacks move extremely high in the attacking phase to force the opposition back which in turn allows the central midfielders to move into attacking positions.
This then allows the central midfielders to move into more advanced attacking positions.
We have seen Newcastle impress in attack this season but mostly because of the individual qualities players bring from the midfield and wide areas.
Their central defenders tend to be very risk-averse and they hold a deeper position when Newcastle are looking to build their attack.
This means when the attack breaks down they can be caught in transition with the opposition able to play quickly into the spaces between the Newcastle defence and midfield.
The next step for the Magpies to become a more dominant team is to retain possession more effectively and to play in a compact style higher up the pitch.
There have been recent whispers that, despite Newcastle being in the middle of an injury crisis, senior figures at the club believe Howe might have taken them as far as he can.
And with them unlikely to be able to prise Unai Emery from Aston Villa, they could well be looking further afield.
There is no doubt Newcastle would have the financial capacity to finalise a deal for a coach like Alonso.
The project at the club and the chance to use the financial might there to build a squad to fit his needs might also be attractive to Alonso when it finally becomes time for him to move on from Leverkusen.
What about the rest?
At Arsenal, Mikael Arteta is still safe in his job and he appears fully committed to the club.
Arteta and Alonso also grew up together as youngsters in the Basque country so this feels like a stretch.
Guardiola is in a similar position to Klopp in that his time at Manchester City will come to an end naturally sooner rather than later.
When he does move on though, expect the likes of Arteta and Roberto De Zerbi, of Brighton, to be front runners for the job.
Chelsea appear to have turned a corner under Mauricio Pochettino and a move to appoint a coach, even one as talented as Alonso, appears extremely unlikely.
For Tottenham see Chelsea. Ange Postecoglou has been a revelation in North London and they will have no intention of moving on or seeking a replacement at this point.
Conclusion
Alonso is the hottest coaching prospect in football but he is also incredibly intelligent and patient.
While we do not expect the Spaniard will jump into his next role without considering all options, we also do not expect that sentimentality will come into his decision.
That is why we have identified Man Utd as the most likely destination for Alonso should he move back to England.
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