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From the moment he dived into management, starting out as a youth coach at Real Madrid, moving onto Real Sociedad's B team and now at Bayer Leverkusen, it was clear Liverpool fans were always going to keep a close eye on Xabi Alonso's development. Especially since even though Jürgen Klopp's contract is until 2026, time flies in football, and that time will be up in the blink of an eye. Alonso has always been touted as someone who would be suited to the role of manager, even before his playing days ended. Having been coached by some of the best in the game including Rafael Benítez, Carlo Ancelotti and he pretty much got the perfect education.

At Leverkusen he has already shown promising signs, rescuing the team from an awful start to the season in which it looked to be in a relegation battle.



Where many managers — even ones as promising as Arteta — failed to guide their team into the quarter final on Thursday night, Alonso did it with ease.



His brand of attacking football is a combination of all his previous managers, with his own unique style emerging too.