BBC man tells Liverpool three reasons why Ruben Amorim is superior to Xabi Alonso, as Portuguese paper drops big hint

BBC man tells Liverpool three reasons why Ruben Amorim is superior to Xabi Alonso, as Portuguese paper drops big hint

Liverpool have been told of three reasons why new No 1 target Ruben Amorim is superior to Xabi Alonso

Why Liverpool have dodged a bullet by missing out on Xabi Alonso has been revealed, with a BBC reporter outlining three reasons why new number one target, Ruben Amorim, is the superior choice anyway.

The Reds earmarked Bayer Leverkusen’s wildly impressive Xabi Alonso as their preferred option to replace Jurgen Klopp. Klopp will leave Liverpool at season’s end and will take a sabbatical before weighing up his next move.

Alonso has worked wonders at Leverkusen and with a hefty 10-point advantage over Bayern Munich, is on course to guide his side to their first ever Bundesliga title.

The idea of leaving Leverkusen as a conquering hero and joining Liverpool or Bayern Munich had been floated. Both clubs are seeking a new manager, with Thomas Tuchel set to leave Bayern when the current campaign concludes.

However, news broke last night of Alonso being inclined to remain with Leverkusen for at least one more season.

Now, according to Fabrizio Romano, Alonso’s final decision to stay loyal to Leverkusen will be made public very shortly.

Alonso remains loyal to Leverkusen
Taking to X, Romano stated “Xabi Alonso, set to stay at Bayer Leverkusen with announcement to follow in public.

“Decision made and confirmed for Xabi who’s staying for one more season.”

Alonso’s current contract with Leverkusen contains a release clause, though it does not become active until 2025.

Unfortunately for Liverpool and Bayern Munich, that timeline does not match their need for a new manager in the here and now.

READ MORE: Ferguson, Guardiola snubbed as Carragher names ‘most important’ manager ever; Man Utd, Man City legends ranked

Three reasons Amorim is superior
Various trusted sources including the Times’ Paul Joyce as well as Romano all suggested Liverpool will now move for Sporting CP boss, Ruben Amorim.

Aged just 39, Amorim is actually three years younger than Alonso, though has already been in senior management for nearly five full seasons. Prior to joining Sporting in 2020 Amorim managed Braga for 18 months. Alonso is in just his second season of senior management.

According to BBC reporter, Chris Bertram, that extra experience is one of three reasons why Amorim may actually be the wiser choice for Liverpool owners FSG anyway.

Aside from that factor, Bertram also pointed to the fact Amorim has already shown he can overcome adversity in the top job.

HAVE YOU SEEN: The frightening XI Liverpool could select if Ruben Amorim takes charge in the Anfield dugout

Amorim guided Sporting to their first league title in 19 years during the 2020/21 season. His side finished second the year after before surprisingly dropping to fourth last season.

However, Amorim has shown his capability to overcome adversity and currently has his side top of the table once more. Sporting currently lead Benfica in the Primeira Liga by a point and also have a game in hand.

Furthermore, Amorim has shown he can put his side in genuine title contention despite losing some of his best players.

Matheus Nunes and Joao Palhinha – now of Manchester City and Fulham – were both sold during Amorim’s stint in charge.

That ability to withstand high profile exits and still compete for top honours could be particularly pertinent for Liverpool given Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah are all out of contract in 2025.

Portuguese paper leads with Amorim to Liverpool
Elsewhere, Portuguese newspaper Record dropped a big hint on Friday morning with Amorim the lead story on their front page.

Their headline read: “Liverpool aperta Amorim”, which translates to ‘Liverpool squeeze Amorim.’

The Portuguese media have touted Liverpool as Amorim’s next destination for over a month and the inference is the Alonso news has only served to heighten the chances Amorim ends up at Anfield.

Furthermore, their sub-heading read: “Reds want to meet with coach at the end of the season, Italian [Roberto De] Zerbi also on the list.”

Amorim’s current deal in Lisbon contains a release clause Liverpool can activate this summer. Sources have differed as to how much it’s worth, though most agree the magic number is €20m.

DON’T MISS: Liverpool midfield pursuit takes fresh hit as club chief reveals star ‘never asked’ to leave Serie A

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Liverpool Target Alonso Will ‘Confirm’ Bayer Leverkusen Stay
BY
MATT SMITH
PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO
Liverpool were hoping to bring Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso to Anfield this summer, but Fabrizio Romano has confirmed he won’t be leaving.

Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso and Liverpool’s Michael Edwards
HIGHLIGHTS
Liverpool’s hopes of bringing in Xabi Alonso to replace Jurgen Klopp have been dashed.
Alonso is staying at Bayer Leverkusen after an impressive season.
The Spanish manager’s decision to stay has been confirmed by journalist Fabrizio Romano.
Liverpool were hoping to bring Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso to Anfield to replace the outgoing Jurgen Klopp this summer, but Fabrizio Romano has now confirmed that he will be staying with the Bundesliga club.

The Reds outlined Alonso as one of their key targets in their hunt for a new manager after an impressive season with Leverkusen. The German side are flying high at the top of the Bundesliga with a 10-point lead over Bayern Munich. The Merseyside club will now be forced to go back to the drawing board, with the Spanish manager going nowhere ahead of the 2024/2025 campaign.

Alonso Won’t be Joining Liverpool
The Spanish manager will stay at Leverkusen
Italian journalist Romano has now confirmed that Alonso is set to stay at Bayer Leverkusen this summer with an official announcement to come. The 42-year-old will be staying for another season at least, with a release clause becoming active in 2025. Liverpool and Bayern Munich, who were both pushing to secure his signature, have been informed of his decision to stay put.

The former Liverpool midfielder clearly wants to continue the project he’s building with Leverkusen, and it’s no surprise, with the German club still competing in three competitions, with the Bundesliga title theirs to lose this season. Romano later added that Alonso is involved with planning new signings for Leverkusen for the summer transfer window, and alongside Liverpool and Bayern, Real Madrid will also keep monitoring their former midfielder for the future.

Xabi Alonso – 2023/24 managerial stats

Matches

38

Wins

33

Draws

5

Losses

0

Points per match

2.74

Correct as of 29/03/2024

Liverpool still have plenty of time to find an alternative to Alonso, and the backroom team will already have a lengthy shortlist of managers in case this situation happened. With Klopp confirming to the Reds that he was going to be departing with months remaining in the season, Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes are still in a strong position to bring in an ideal replacement.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Xabi Alonso remains the only unbeaten manager in Europe’s top-five leagues this season.

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ESPN journalist Mark Ogden has now claimed that Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi is top of Liverpool’s list as an alternative to Alonso. The Italian coach has done an impressive job with the Seagulls, helping guide them into Europe for the first time. His attractive style of play is likely to be a hit with the supporters at Anfield, and he already has a bit of Premier League experience under his belt.

Journalist Ben Jacobs has recently told GIVEMESPORT that Hughes, who will join the club as sporting director later this year, is a ‘big fan’ of De Zerbi, and he’s likely to have a major say on who the next manager is going to be.

All stats courtesy of Transfermarkt

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Matt Smith
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Matt Smith is a football writer covering the Premier League and exclusive news for GIVEMESPORT. Matt joined the company in March 2023 and is an avid Everton supporter who regularly attends games in his spare time

He has previously worked for CaughtOffside where he covered world football including transfers, match reports, previews, and more.

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He has amassed over 22,000 followers on X by giving his insight on football, predominantly focusing on the tactical side of the game.

 

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THE TRIVELA EFFECT

World Football News And Analysis

It looks like Real Madrid already won the Xabi Alonso race
March 28, 2024
Xabi Alonso has become the most coveted name in the managerial market by leading Bayer Leverkusen to an undefeated start to the 2023/24 season.

Die Werkself are in the driver’s seat to win the Bundesliga and break up Bayern Munich’s hegemony of the title, having brought Die Roten to their knees in a recent 3-0 drubbing.

Every top club with a possible manager vacancy is after Alonso, including former club Bayern. Two other former clubs of his, Liverpool and Real Madrid, have also been linked, even though Los Blancos don’t currently have a managerial vacancy.

Yet as it stands, it looks like Real Madrid have won the battle to sign Xabi Alonso before the summer transfer window even begins, in spite of the fact that they already have a settled coaching situation with the legendary Carlo Ancelotti at the helm.

That’s because Alonso has reportedly decided to stay with the Bayer Leverkusen project for at least one more season, as the club have all but guaranteed a Champions League berth for the 2024/25 season.

Not only does Alonso remain committed to the Leverkusen project in the short term, but this also increases the chances of him leaving Leverkusen at a later date when Real Madrid are ready to replace Ancelotti with a more long-term manager.

Real Madrid initially hired Carletto to replace Zinedine Zidane after the French icon’s resignation, intending to hire the Italian coach as a short-term solution before hiring someone else to manage the team over the long haul.

At the time, Alonso was mentioned alongside Raúl and even Julian Nagelsmann as a possible “coach for the future” at the Santiago Bernabéu.

For Alonso, the future is now. He is already as good as any manager in the world, based on what he is accomplishing in Germany at his first major coaching gig.

Alonso could have the keys to the kingdom in Madrid, working with the likes of Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo Goes, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Endrick, Vinícius Júnior, and, very likely, Kylian Mbappé on a team loaded with young talent.

The Spanish manager is already working wonders in Leverkusen with young up-and-coming stars, but imagine what he would be capable of with the full powers of the Real Madrid machine and their young phenoms.

A new era could be dawning on the Spanish capital, with Carlo giving way to a player he once managed to greatness en route to La Décmia. And Alonso will aim to win many more Champions Leagues in Madrid.

Liverpool have a very appealing sporting project to offer to Alonso, but there’s something about Madrid that is too good to pass up on. It appears Alonso is willing to wait for Madrid while enjoying the fruits of his labors in Leverkusen at the Champions League level next season.

Kevin Parvizi
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He has been an editor for NFL Spin Zone, Daily DDT for pro wrestling, Autzen Zoo covering the Oregon Ducks, Through The Phog covering the Kansas Jayhawks, Musket Fire covering the New England Patriots, The Real Champs covering Real Madrid, Old Juve covering Juventus, Rush The Kop covering Liverpool, and Release The Knappen covering Schalke. He has also written about the MLB for Call to the Pen, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for The Pewter Plank, the Carolina Panthers for Cat Crave, the NFL and world football for FanSided.com, and college basketball for Busting Brackets. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and various major media publications and newspapers around the world. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.

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Manchester City
Man City have another world-class talent on their hands – but only if they learn from Cole Palmer mistakes
An on-loan Manchester City star is shining in Argentina – but they need to make sure they get this one right.

By Matthew Gregory
Published 28th Mar 2024, 19:00 GMT
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It isn’t easy breaking into Manchester City’s first team. For all of his many qualities as a manager, Pep Guardiola has seldom shown much willingness to give academy products many minutes on the field at the Etihad, and Phil Foden remains the only player to complete the transition from the youth teams to the starting line-up. Given how good Cole Palmer has been at Chelsea since being jettisoned by City last summer, one wonders how much talent they might miss out in if they don’t make the path into the matchday squad a little easier.

But for all the seller’s regret City might be feeling after seeing Palmer practically running the Chelsea attack by himself for large parts of the season, at least he isn’t the only startlingly talented youngster they have coming through. Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb are both on the fringes of the first team already – and are full internationals for their respective countries – but there may well be another player now on the books who could have an even bigger impact if City and Guardiola get his development right.

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In January, City spent a reported £12.5m plus add-ons to buy 18-year-old Argentine attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri from River Plate before loaning him back for the remainder of the year. And judging by the way he’s started the new season in his home country, City will want to fast-track him as far and as fast as Guardiola is willing to permit.

Standing 5’7” tall in his studded boots, Echeverri is nicknamed ‘El Diablito’ – ‘The Little Devil’ – both for his short stature, his dribbling skills and as a play on the nickname of Bolivia legend Marco ‘El Diablo’ Etcheverry, who was similarly quick, similarly hard to tackle and had an equally powerful strike as well as being a near-namesake. But watching him play, there’s at least as much of a resemblance to Foden in the way he runs quickly at defenders with the ball glued to his feet.

He has a similar sort of dribbling style to Foden too, hunched slightly over the ball as he motors past tackles with pace and deftness. It’s his ball-carrying skills which have caught the eye the most so far, and he’s left many far more experienced defenders for dead in the Argentinian domestic game already, but his game is well-rounded.

He’s a goalscorer, recently bagging a brilliant first goal for River in a game against Gimnasia after he hared into the penalty area, slalomed past a defender who was completely befuddled by a flick of the feet and lashed the ball into the roof of the net on the angle with his favoured right foot. For a small man, he can generate some hugely impressive power with his shots. And while that might have been his first professional goal, he’s also rattled in 12 goals in 20 matches for Argentina’s Under-17s, including a hat-trick in the World Cup against Brazil.

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And his passing isn’t shabby, either. He’s got the knack of spotting his target and getting the ball out quickly and of playing people into space, all of which makes him even more difficult to defend because it’s impossible to know whether he’ll run or pass, and he’ll make his decision at lightning speed. That amount of technique and that degree of alacrity in his play makes him a huge prospect.

He’s not the finished article, of course, and he often has to use his dancing feet to dig himself out of trouble thanks to a slightly leaden first touch which means he doesn’t have the instantaneous control of a player like his idol, Lionel Messi, but given the degree of technique he has and the speed of his development, you wouldn’t bet against him adding that to his arsenal down the line. He looks like one hell of a player.

City will need to take care of him and make sure he has the opportunities he needs in a way they ultimately failed to do with Palmer. With the Chelsea man, they did half of the job, training him up to have all the quality he needed to succeed but never letting him get enough of a chance to impress in the senior squad. Leaving Echeverri on loan at River was probably a smart move in that regard. By the time he finally makes the trip to Manchester, he should have his first full season of top-level football under his belt.

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Not that his inexperience has prevented him from playing exceptionally well in the early stages of the Argentine season. As well as the goal against Gimnasia, he has already picked up a couple of assists, including one in a 2-1 Supercopa win over Estudiantes. The Argentine campaign is young, but Echeverri looks like he’s as good as anyone in the country right now.

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City need to get this one right. If Echeverri spends a few years getting little more than the occasional cameo from the bench or EFL Cup outing, then he’s unlikely to live up to his stellar potential. But if Guardiola can offer him the opportunities, he has the skill set to go far. And the attitude – he first made a name for himself after scoring nine goals in a six-game youth tournament in Italy before complaining to the media that his team’s final position of third wasn’t good enough. He was 11 years old.

One can’t fault the young man’s determination – but one can fault the lack of a clear pathway for City’s academy players. Given how much they’ve invested in bringing some of the best young talent in the game to the Etihad Campus over the last few years, they’re going to need to learn the Cole Palmer lesson quickly, otherwise they will have wasted a lot of money, and potentially the talent of supremely gifted players. Echeverri, you would think, is too good to be allowed to go to waste.

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LIVERPOOLFormer Man City Captain Fernandinho just confirmed dead so sad

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Nine Liverpool players absent from training ahead of Brighton clash – with duo doubtful to feature
Liverpool injury news as they prepare to face Brighton in the Premier League title race.
By Will Rooney
Published 28th Mar 2024, 17:24 GMT
Liverpool training. Picture: Sky Sports/ X
Liverpool training. Picture: Sky Sports/ X
Liverpool’s squad has reassembled after the international break.

The Reds have been put through their paces at the AXA Training Centre as their Premier League title challenge recommences against Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on Sunday.

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Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that Liverpool’s injury list can clear up for the final 10 games of the campaign, while an assault on the Europa League is also ongoing.

Klopp had hoped that Curtis Jones would be back for the Reds after the international break. The midfielder has been sidelined since suffering an ankle injury in a 4-1 win at Brentford on 17 February, which denied him a potential maiden England senior call-up. But Jones was absent from training, per Sky Sports filming the session.

Ibrahima Konate was another not spotted by the Sky cameras. The centre-back has missed Liverpool’s previous three matches but did make a return to action for France during the international break. It could be that the Reds are managing Konate’s minutes to ensure he does not sustain another setback.

It is also reported that Andy Robertson looks likely to miss out against Brighton. The left-back was forced off in the 37th minute of Scotland’s