Liverpool call Real Madrid to inquire about… Xabi Alonso

Liverpool have doubts over who should be trusted with a multimillion-dollar project that has failed to work. For many weeks, Xabi Alonso has been mentioned – Chelsea have also entered the picture – but the club is not convinced, which is why they have been asking questions and showing interest in what happened at Real Madrid with the coach. A call to Valdebebas was made to clear up the unknowns.

Alonso left Real Madrid in January 2026. Since then, his name has been linked with a host of clubs, but especially one: Liverpool. Arne Slot, the current Anfield manager, is under scrutiny because of the poor season being endured by a team that led last summer’s transfer market. The $487 million invested has not produced the desired results, and many voices are pointing at the current coach.

Those same voices, including some influential former players, have spoken about their favorite to take over Liverpool’s bench and have pointed to Alonso, who has already been discussed several times as the chosen one – even as an option to take charge midseason amid the results crisis. However, all the rumors about a change during the campaign gradually faded.

Liverpool weigh up Xabi Alonso move

With the season nearing its end, the English club’s executives and owners have decided to act. But before choosing the name of Slot’s possible replacement, they wanted to know in detail the current situation and what has happened around each candidate, something common in modern soccer. Clubs talk to each other in search of answers to the doubts that can arise.

One of those calls – there have been several – from Anfield went to Valdebebas to ask about the work done by Alonso. The relationship between the clubs, despite the tension a year ago over Trent Alexander-Arnold, is one of trust, hence the question put to Real Madrid’s hierarchy. They were looking for backing for their decision. It is like a kind of recommendation letter from the business world.

The truth is that Liverpool have doubts. Those who know the English club well acknowledge as much. They are the same doubts that led their directors to halt what looked like Slot’s dismissal, especially after several press conferences that went down very badly. Now a period of reflection and decision-making is opening, and Alonso’s name is certainly there – but the questions suggest it is not yet definitive.

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