🚨 EOTK Insider with Jan Age Fjortoft: Why Alonso said no to LFC, who will replace Klopp now? The PL winners will be...
Jan Age Fjortoft joined us to provide a EOTK Insider, exploring all the latest in Liverpool's hunt for a new manager to replace Jurgen Klopp
After the bombshell announcement from Xabi Alonso that revealed he would be staying at Bayer Leverkusen for (at least) one more year, Liverpool fans were left pondering who could be the man to replace Jurgen Klopp. Back in February, Jan Age Fjortoft made the bold prediction on his X account that:
Re: Alonso
This is how I “read the room” based on conversations last 24 hours:
Most likely right now:
Stay in Leverkusen
Stay in Leverkusen - Take Real Madrid 2025
Liverpool
Bayern
So, we spoke with the Norwegian about his thoughts on Alonso’s announcement and where Liverpool go from here.
After Xabi Alonso’s announcement, what's your take on the fact that he's staying at Leverkusen for at least another year?
5 or 6 weeks ago this topic came up with Alonso. The timing for Tuchel leaving Bayern and Klopp leaving Liverpool, it was a very hot topic but I know some people in Germany, I know some people in and around Alonso. It's exactly like you Liverpool fans love him, the same for Real Madrid fans, same with Bayern Munich fans.
He is a guy who is kind, sensible and intelligent - an intelligent player and an intelligent leader now. I got the impression from day one that his path was to use the time to develop and mature as a coach and that he would be staying in Leverkusen for at least another season.
And I would say, as I have this podcast with my son: ‘The German Football Podcast’, and I say it there as well, that there is no way that I believed any rumors saying that Alonso prefered this or that, before staying with Leverkusen because that's not the Alonso way.
He would never say that, he's been as strategic, as intelligent, acted as much as a leader, as he did as a player. He has been like that throughout this process with him being linked to other clubs.
So, don't believe this stuff that he picked Bayern ahead of Liverpool, that you will have heard. It's not true, it's not true. That has never been on his agenda. Of course, he would have talked about this, like everybody else, with his friends or whatever. We don't know what was said but he's been very, very professional and he's talked this through with Leverkusen and he has chosen to stay another year, which is not a surprise for me at all.
A lot of Liverpool fans will be disappointed with the Alonso news but will also admire that he's honoring his contract with Leverkusen. It does seem to also set up a move to Real Madrid the following summer. No decision will have been made past the summer of 2025 but what do you think the future holds for Xabi Alonso?
I think that we can only comment or do our analysis based on what Alonso has done and said because nobody could put themself into the head of Alonso. But in terms of experience, this is his first full season at the top level, with Leverkusen. He came there, he saved them and now he stays for another season.
The thing is with Bayern Munich and Liverpool, it's two of the greatest jobs you can have in football. Alonso would have to look at them and think, ‘wow, this is a chance for me to coach one of the greatest clubs.’
But I think that the Liverpool job is a dream job but I'm not sure that the Liverpool job after Jurgen Klopp is a dream job. I'm not saying that Alonso thought that because I don't know, I have no idea. The Liverpool job will always be one of the greatest in football and any manager would want that job but replacing Klopp could be the only negative thing, which is a vital thing. Having said that, a Liverpool job may not come up for the next 5, 6, 7 years because nobody knew that Klopp would stay for nine years. That could happen again.
Same with Bayern. Bayern have had more coaches in recent years and they have fired coaches like Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann, Hansi Flick and Niko Kovac - now the job is available again. It may be available again for Alonso next year too. Real Madrid will probably only have one more season with Carlo Ancelotti, meaning they could also be in the hunt for Alonso next season.
It’s all about timings, I'm not saying that this is why Alonso is staying, to plot a move to Madrid. He has this Leverkusen team with some very exciting players like Florian Wirtz, with the restarted career of Granit Xhaka, others like Jeremie Frimpong and Patrik Schick - so many great players. I think the excitement of taking them into Champions League is a big one for Alonso.
He was speaking at the press conference all about developing as a coach, but there's no guarantees in football. The next Liverpool manager who comes in, if that’s Roberto De Zerbi, Ruben Amorim, or anyone else, they could have fantastic success at Anfield. So, this is all about timing and Alonso has put all that on the table and is taking a chance and it’s his risk.
I'm not sure that I would do the same, I think that 9 of 10 managers would think, ‘wow, Bayern and Liverpool want us - I will run, I will swim over the English channel to get to Liverpool!’
But Alonso is different. Alonso is another guy, another type of leader and it’s very rare that you have the choice to go to Liverpool or Bayern and you choose to stay at Leverkusen - very rare. No disrespect to Leverkusen at all, it just shows you the maturity and the intelligence of Alonso thinking of his own career.
The funny thing is that I think that Bayern Munich fans and Liverpool fans, although they would love to have him as their coach next season, their respect for him will be even be bigger now because they see, ‘wow, this is the guy that we would love to be in charge of our sport department.’
We know it won’t be Xabi Alonso now and you’ve mentioned that Roberto De Zerbi and Ruben Amorim are the two main candidates at the moment but who you would like to see take the job after Jurgen Klopp?
I said this the day after Klopp announced he was leaving, Liverpool fans didn't know what Klopp would do to the city when you signed him, you didn't know that Klopp would be turned into a modern day Bill Shankly or Bob Paisley, the kind of guy that you would feel has been in the boot room all of his career.
When Klopp leaves after nine years at the helm of the club, you think that should you look for ‘another Klopp’ who will be an ambassador, who will identify with the city and the Liverpool philosophy. I'm not only talking about football, I'm talking about the Liverpool people with the ‘us against the rest of the world, we're so proud to be Scousers’ something that, as a foreigner, I admire and love.
If you look for that guy and you have a look around who could do that for you, who could be that intellectual guy? I said straight away Ange Postecoglou, he could do that. I'm not talking about things on the pitch, I'm just talking about him being the guy that understands that it’s us against the rest of the world.
Like a lot of other fans, I've been very impressed with the job Ruben Amorim has done at Sporting. It's been amazing since he came from Braga, it’s a bit funny that they have been a bit like Klopp, had a bad last season and they're bouncing back now on the path to maybe beat both Benfica and Porto to win the league. Amorim is one of the the biggest names linked so far, he's 39-years-of-age and is one of the greatest talents.
It's very underestimated to think which manager do you go after, as it doesn’t always work. Graham Potter went from Brighton to Chelsea for different reasons and a lot of managers have struggled at Chelsea lately, but it didn’t work. It's all about timing now. Roberto De Zerbi took over at Brighton and did a great job but this season, he has lost a lot of games. He’s had a bad spell and that may work against him. So, it's so much about timing.
I can see now that Bayern Munich are saying that they want to get a coach sorted before the end of April. I guess Liverpool now, with their new sporting department in the door, they need to be in that race at the same time because it's a competition between Barcelona, Bayern, Liverpool and maybe Manchester United, the German national team too. It’s sensational how many clubs and teams now need a coach.
To finish with an easy question whilst we have you Jan, who’s going to win the Premier League this season?
I'm not just saying this because I’m talking to you, I’ve always had a feeling when Liverpool started that spell in November, December when they won a lot of games without being very impressive, the most impressive thing is to win to win football games when not playing well. I thought that showed it's going to be a Liverpool year. That was my gut feeling.
I think people are overestimating that Manchester City will do what they normally do and go and win 8, 9, 10 games without losing. I don't think that they have that same thing they had last season with Arsenal being up there and ready to take the next step.
I couldn't tell you who will win the league! This is just a guess, it could be any one of the three, I think they're all on the same level and if you ask me again on Monday after everyone has played and I've already been at the Etihad and have watched Manchester City and Arsenal, it could change a bit.
You see the small things with John Stones and Kyle Walker possibly being out injured for Manchester City. Liverpool maybe seem to be getting some of their players back and Arsenal as well. We’re into small details now, so that I couldn't tell you!
Thanks very much to Jan for his time, make sure to follow him on X (@JanAageFjortoft) and listen to his new podcast with his son (The German Football Podcast).
Keep up to date with all the latest around Liverpool Football Club with Empire of the Kop!