Xabi Alonso already tried to join Arsenal, Chelsea move should now end his Liverpool connection
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Liverpool supporters have been dealt a blow this weekend after confirmation arrived that former midfielder Xabi Alonso is all set to become Chelsea’s new manager.Many fans had been hoping to see Alonso replace Arne Slot at Anfield this year, with some holding out hope that his presence on the managerial market would force the Liverpool owners‘ hand in sacking Slot.But that has not happened, and Alonso is now ready to take over at one of the Reds’ biggest domestic rivals. His bond with the Reds seemingly only goes one way, and after this latest disappointment, should now be over.Alonso wanted to join Arsenal in 200817 years ago, when Alonso exited Liverpool for Real Madrid, it was seen as being the culmination of a row with Rafa Benitez, who had tried to replace him with Gareth Barry one year previously.
Most fans sided with the player, who had always proclaimed to love the club and the city.However, as Benitez revealed in August 2024, he had been actively pursuing Barry not because he wanted Alonso to leave, but rather because the midfielder himself had been looking to make a switch to Arsenal in 2008.Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesREAD MORE: Liverpool fans learn if Cesc Fabregas could be available this summer after Xabi Alonso disappointment“When we went for Gareth Barry, it was because he could play in three different positions and then we needed to sell [to sign Barry],” the former manager told The Overlap. During the season he was our best player and didn’t go to Arsenal because he had to play [for us].”Will Alonso still manage Liverpool one day?Benitez’s anecdote was not widely known at the time, and it may have come as a surprise to Liverpool fans that Alonso was willing to sit out of a game he was needed in in order to force through a move to a Premier League rival.But after agreeing to now join Chelsea, a picture is forming of a man who perhaps does not quite hold Liverpool in as high a regard as initially believed.
This sounds like it was aimed at Slot… Photo Credit: Getty Images/Liverpool FC Had the Reds come in for Alonso this summer, maybe he would have agreed to join them. That he is willing not only to join one of Liverpool’s biggest rivals, but one in such disarray on and off the pitch, shows that his regard for Liverpool fans is not what it was once claimed to be.Whether he fails or succeeds at Chelsea, it is now difficult to see how Alonso ever ends up in the dugout at Anfield.