Xabi Alonso’s return to Liverpool felt inevitable – behind the scenes, the reality was always different

A wonderful long passer and a midfielder with the capacity to score from the halfway line, Xabi Alonso always seemed to have the ability to plot the way to a far-off target with expert precision. For years, the theory was that it would transport the former Liverpool midfielder to the dugouts at Anfield. When it has, though, it has been the opposition technical area: first with Bayer Leverkusen, then Real Madrid, the other club with whom he won the Champions League, now with Chelsea, the club beaten on Merseyside in two Champions League semi-finals two decades ago.

A man who created many a Liverpool goal has promised he will celebrate “for sure” if Chelsea score at Anfield on Wednesday; he had nothing to celebrate in 2024, however, when his Leverkusen were walloped 4-0, or last year, when his Real lost 1-0.

The chant in Alonso’s playing days, when Liverpool represented the ancien regime and Chelsea the nouveau riche, was that the Londoners “ain’t got no history”. Liverpool and Alonso have plenty; he scored their first goal against AC Milan in “the miracle of Istanbul”, and they spiralled into decline after his 2009 sale to Real. When he took Leverkusen to an unbeaten double, he looked a Liverpool manager in waiting. Now the wait may be never-ending.

When Jurgen Klopp announced in January 2024 that he would stand down, Alonso seemed the best candidate. Including, it soon transpired, to Klopp himself, who appeared to give the Basque his blessing as his successor. Describing managers of his vintage as dinosaurs, the German said: “The next generation is already there and I would say Xabi is standout.”

Whether or not the Liverpool hierarchy at the time concurred, they were soon deterred. While Bayern Munich mounted a public chase of Alonso, Liverpool did not. “At that time, I was at Leverkusen and I was aware of the situation but I decided to stay,” he said. He never spoke to Liverpool.

The greater surprise, perhaps, was that he did not in 2026, either. Two years ago, after Ruben Amorim was wrongly described as the frontrunner, Arne Slot was instead appointed. Slot won a Premier League title while Madrid, the third superclub Alonso represented, hired him a year later.

Yet his sacking by Real in January felt like a case of bad timing for an increasingly beleaguered Slot. Alonso’s sudden availability made him the obvious alternative, the king over the water. The idea of Alonso was seductive to many a Liverpool fan, if not to their hierarchy. They did not intervene when Chelsea made their move for a man who once had his ankle broken by Frank Lampard in one of the many flashpoints of a rivalry that had a bitterness when Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho patrolled the technical areas.

When Liverpool eventually did sack Slot, they instead opted for an outsider, but one who they felt represented an identity adopted after Alonso left. If his coaching career has been influenced by Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola, and while he also played for Mourinho, some might say Benitez’s more structured tactics are reflected in his teams. Andoni Iraola’s high-energy approach is more reminiscent of Klopp, a kind of chaos theory designed to galvanise Anfield.

Iraola, hired by former Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes for Bournemouth, was the stealth candidate hiding in plain sight. That Alonso and Iraola share an agent may mean the new Chelsea manager was always aware of Liverpool’s thinking. They have shared a friendship since boyhood, since they played for Antiguoko in San Sebastian.

“We were close friends, we grew up together, we played in the same team, we played as football players against each other, we played together in the national team with Spain and in the Basque country, but now he is the opposition and we want to beat him and the same way he will do with us,” said Iraola.

They have been on different sides of a divide before – Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad – and their relationship has been put on hold for now. It is a familiar theme for Iraola, in part because of the extraordinary depth of coaching talent in the Basque country. He faced his former assistant at Rayo Vallecano, Inigo Perez, when Villarreal visited Anfield last week, while it is another Antiguoko alumnus, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, on Sunday.

There are other reunions. A reason to think Liverpool might have turned to Alonso earlier this year was his success with two of their 2025 recruits; Florian Wirtz was named the Bundesliga’s player of the season when Alonso’s unbeaten Leverkusen became champions, while Jeremie Frimpong was also pivotal. Given the latter’s erratic form with Liverpool, it can feel like an even greater achievement.

Alonso credited Wirtz, in particular, with facilitating his progress. “For sure, one of the main reasons for me being here is the time that I spent with him in Leverkusen,” he said. “He was a special player. He helped me so much.”

If a season is an examination of whether Iraola can get the same excellence from Wirtz as Alonso did, a Carabao Cup tie offers an early comparison. Alonso has a trophy-winning pedigree as both player and manager that Iraola lacks. He has his Liverpool past, but Liverpool decided Iraola was their future.