Xabi Alonso to Liverpool latest: Contract 'offered' as Pep Guardiola issues verdict

Liverpool will already be searching for their next manager amid Jurgen Klopp's recent decision to walk away from the club and take a break at the end of the current season. The Reds have enjoyed a hugely fruitful spell under the German, and they know they need to choose carefully if they want to avoid metaphorically dropping off a cliff following his departure.

Bayer Leverkusen boss and former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has been heavily linked with the job, but he will be a htot property this summer, and Liverpool won't be the only club interested. Here we round up all the latest on Alonso's possible return to Anfield.

Alonso 'offered' Liverpool role

One of the latest claims on the Alonso to Liverpool front comes from TeamTalk, who report that the Reds have already offered the Spaniard a deal. They say Liverpool have offered Alonso a three-year deal in a bid to beat Bayern to the punch.

The report claims that the Reds have a number of options but that Alonso has always been at the top of their list. Bayern have a similar view, but the Reds are said to be pressing ahead in a bid to get their managerial search to the stage of completion before any complications arrive. Naturally, Liverpool would need Leverkusen's permission to discuss a deal with Alonso, at least on paper, but such talks tend to take place without permission regularly in the modern day.

Alonso's response

Alonso may have been linked with Liverpool and Bayern Munich ahead of the summer, but he is not saying a word about his future destination, fully concentrating on current club Leverkusen. "Maybe you have questions about my future," he said last week.

"I have nothing new to say about that. I wanted to say that in advance. Right now I'm the coach here, that's for sure. For the future I have nothing new to say, we'll see." Alonso has faced questions aplenty over a move to Bayern of late after it was confirmed the Bundesliga champions would be moving on from Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season.

Guardiola's verdict

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has weighed in on Alonso's situation, providing praise aplenty for the Spaniard. “It’s a question for Liverpool, and, of course, I’m not going to answer because I don’t know the ideas that they have,” said the City boss. “If you ask me [about] the job he is doing, honestly? Wow. He’s unbeaten, the only team in modern football that’s unbeaten in all competitions and fighting in that way with Bayern Munich.

“Now they have the most important part of the season. Now they are in the position that they cannot win the Bundesliga, they can lose the Bundesliga because everybody thinks it’s done. Now is the most difficult thing, it’s not done until it’s done. But wow, not just the way they play, they didn’t lose one game in Europa League, in [DFB] Pokal in Germany, and Bundesliga, and the way they’re playing.

“I was incredibly fortunate to have him for one year and a half, two seasons, and he’s such an intelligent player, so intelligent. In that moment, yeah [I could see him becoming a manager] There are holding midfielders, when they ask you questions and how curious they are about the game you realise that this guy, if he will retire and will be at home, he will be annoyed and nothing to do, and says, ‘OK, I’m going to go back to my business in world football’.

“Normally holding midfielders like him, [Javier] Mascherano, [Sergio] Busquets – the holding midfielders I had, Rodri, [Ilkay] Gundogan – they will be involved in football for sure because they have a vision for a global perspective. [Alonso] was such an incredible, top-class player otherwise you cannot play for Liverpool, [Real] Madrid, and after Bayern Munich, and a part of Real Sociedad, you cannot play in these teams if you are not a top-class player, an intelligent one, skills and so on. He took a [lot of] good decisions and I’m so happy for him, he deserves it, he’s a lovely, lovely guy.”