Liverpool boost as Alonso to Bayern reports are dismissed; demands La Liga star as first Reds signing

Liverpool journalist Neil Jones has played down reports claiming Xabi Alonso wants to move to Bayern Munich over the Reds in the summer.

The Premier League side are on the lookout for a new manager after Jurgen Klopp announced earlier this year that he will be leaving at the end of the season to take a break from football.

Xabi Alonso concentrating on winning the Bundesliga, not Liverpool or Bayern

Alonso has been the bookmaker’s favourite from the minute it was announced but Julian Nagelsmann, Ruben Amorim, Roberto De Zerbi and others have been linked too.

‘clear preference’ was to move to Anfield, while one on Monday claimed that Alonso ‘will go to Bayern not Liverpool’.

And now Jones, who has covered Liverpool for years, reckons that recent reports have been blown out of proportion and that Alonso is just concentrating on winning the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.

Jones wrote in his Caught Offside column: “We inevitably keep hearing a lot about Xabi Alonso’s future, with some reports suggesting he’s held positive talks with Liverpool, while other sources are saying he’s favouring Bayern Munich.

“To be honest, I think the situation with Alonso is that there are a lot of people trying to guess and speculate as to his intentions, when the reality is that his primary focus will be, and has to be, on finishing a huge job with Bayer Leverkusen this season.

“Clearly, he is going to have a big decision to make soon, because both Liverpool and Bayern Munich will be calling him, if they haven’t already, and Leverkusen will surely be making a pitch for him to stay for at least one more season too.

“One thing that is clear about Alonso is that he is someone who knows his own mind, and he has rarely, if ever, made a decision in his career that did not have a great deal of thought behind it. I certainly wouldn’t expect him to rush into his next move, and I certainly wouldn’t like to second-guess his intentions at this stage.

“Personally, I believe that if both clubs (and Leverkusen) made offers to him, then Liverpool is a more attractive proposition at this stage, given the state of the squad, the quality within the academy and the lack of political manoeuvring that goes on behind the scenes, but that’s just my opinion. Bayern, I’m sure, would argue differently. Let’s wait and see how it all pans out.”

And Spanish website Fichajes claims that Alonso ‘will ask for’ Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi ‘if he arrives’ at Liverpool in the summer with the Leverkusen coach ‘setting his sights on one of the great talents of Spanish football’.