MADRID – The world of football has been left in shock since the beginning of the new year, because Enzo Maresca lost his place in Chelsea FC, Rúben Amorim in Manchester United and Xabi Alonso in Real Madrid.
The first-named had disagreements with the management of Chelsea, Amori as well, and Xabi Alonso, according to Spanish reports, had disagreements both with part of the player staff and with director Florentino Pérez. His engagement in the capital of Spain lasted only from May 2025 to January 2026, and now he is the so-called free agent in the market. Places in many of Europe’s top clubs are filled, but as we can see even at the beginning of 2026, things can change from minute to minute in football and sports in general.
Xabi Alonso has enjoyed an unbeaten Bundesliga season at Leverkusen, culminating in winning the league title and dethroning Bayern Munich as league champions. But after success in a smaller German club, he quickly discovered that working at the highest level with countless stars and their egos is not an easy job.
“When Xabi Alonso, who proved for more than two years in Leverkusen what an exceptional coaching talent he is, had to quit Real Madrid after only six months, it became clear that everything is not 100% right at the club.” Jürgen Klopp commented on Xabi’s dismissal from Los Blancos.
But his dismissal from Real Madrid does not mean that no one will ever hire him again. The former player of Real Madrid, Liverpool and Bayern Munich should not have a shortage of offers, because he has already proven that he is capable of delivering results and a big trophy in the top competition. So where could he be heading?
The first to come to mind is Liverpool, where in recent months there has been great uncertainty regarding the future of current manager Arne Sloto. Despite summer purchases of nearly 500 million, he falls short of the brutally high but understandable expectations of the public, and LFC’s performances go from ten to five, to which was added the autumn conflict with Mohamed Salah, the team’s biggest star.
Photo gallery (2) Arne Slot Source: SITA/AP/Ian Walton
At the moment, Liverpool can’t really think about fighting for the championship title, their faith remains just in fighting through, or staying on the rungs guaranteeing the Champions League. The worst is probably behind the club from across the Mersey River – three losses in a row against Manchester City, Nottingham and PSV with a score of 1:10, but at the same time far from ideal.
Xabi Alonso’s association with LFC is also tinged with the past, as the 44-year-old Spaniard spent five seasons at the club between 2004 and 2009 and won the memorable 2005 Champions League title after a sensational Istanbul turnaround against AC Milan.
We cannot completely rule out the interest of Manchester United either. The club, which has been going through a turbulent period since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, is sinking lower and lower. Even the new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe did not help to turn the situation around, because the majority owners still remained the controversial and criticized Glazer brothers, who, since joining the club, are primarily interested in profit and are not very interested in the healthy running of the club.
Michael Carrick, a club icon from Sir Alex’s days, took the helm temporarily until the end of the season, but the club is already working on his replacement, who should arrive after the end of this season. In the corridors, there is talk of names such as Oliver Glasner (Crystal Palace), Andoni Iraola (Bournemouth), Thomas Tuchel (English national team), Luis Enrique (PSG) and Gareth Southgate, the former coach of England. So far, everything is just speculation, and many fans would certainly agree that the primary problem at United is not the coach.
The question arises whether, given the history, a connection between Xabi and Manchester United would even be possible, but as has been said a thousand times – never say never, it also applies in football. If Xabi were to “sign for the devil” from Old Trafford (and no, in this case we don’t mean the nickname MUFC), it would perhaps be an even bigger challenge for him than in the form of Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid.
If we want a greater involvement of the imagination, let’s mention Manchester City. Although their current manager Pep Guardiola is not thinking about an immediate end, or after the season, but considering the fact that he has been sitting on the Cityzens bench for almost 10 years, we should slowly look at his possible successor. Guardiola has already managed to emphasize that he plans to take at least a year’s rest from football after his time at City.
Some media have also speculated about Bayern Munich, but if we look at Vincent Kompany’s remarkable work at the Bavarian giants, then any talk of his end should be swept off the table immediately. Indeed, Bayern clearly and safely leads the Bundesliga – after 17 rounds it has 47 points, an 11-point lead over the second Dortmund and an incredible score of 66:13. Over the weekend, they outclassed Wolfsburg in their own stadium by a ratio of 8:1 and won 3:1 in Cologne yesterday.
- Author: © List/ Ondrej Herceg
- Source: Sports shoes
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