Could Xabi Alonso, so impressive as a rookie coach at Bayer Leverkusen last term, be set for a coaching career at the very top of the game?
Certainly Bayern Munich, one of his former clubs, would be interested. When Alonso strutted his stuff for the Bavarians in the final act (2014-17) of a magnificent playing career, the suits at the Allianz Arena often went out of their way to sing the praises of the Basque midfield traffic cop, commending him for his leadership qualities, tactical awareness and consummate ability to pull the strings in the middle of the park. Whether hinted at or bluntly on the record, the word from the Bayern boardroom was that they held Alonso’s football IQ in the highest regard and would dearly love to employ him as a coach one day.
“He’s the best central midfielder we’ve had in recent years,” said the then-Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in an interview with magazine in April 2019. “He wasn’t the quickest, but of all the players I’ve ever seen in our midfield, he was the most intelligent and the best strategically. He was a wonderful player,
