Former Liverpool and Spain star Xabi Alonso has emerged as one of the leading candidates to be appointed as the Tottenham Hotspur boss.
What’s the news?
Tottenham have reportedly marked Alonso as their new top target for the vacant position of manager. The club has been in talks with several candidates over the past few weeks, including former Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann, Feyenoord boss Arne Slot and former Spain manager Luis Enrique. The Telegraph have reported that Nagelsmann has rejected the approach from Spurs and that has left Alonso in pole position for the job.
Why Xabi Alonso?
The former midfielder has been slowly developing his career as a manager over the past few years. He started as a youth coach at Real Madrid where he coached the U14 team. In 2019 he was then appointed as the manager of Real Sociedad B, the club’s reserve team. With the B-team Alonso managed to achieve promotion to the Liga Smartbank, Spain’s second tier.
In October 2022 he was appointed as the head coach at German side Bayer Leverkusen, who were then battling in the lower regions of the Bundesliga. A lot has changed since then as Alonso has led the club back to the first half of the table and into the top six of the league, whilst reaching the semi finals of the Europa League, where they will face AS Roma. In 31 matches under Alonso, Leverkusen have won 17 games.
