Seven months after being appointed manager of Bayer Leverkusen, Xabi Alonso has become a target for Tottenham Hotspur as one of three young candidates. Alonso, 41, began his coaching career in the Real Madrid youth ranks before taking over at Real Socieded B. In March, he extended his stay with his boyhood club amid interest from Borussia Monchengladbach, but when the Leverkusen job became available in October, he took the step into senior management. Since then, Alonso has had an impressive record of 17 wins, seven draws and seven losses in 31 games, and has led Leverkusen to sixth in the Bundesliga and into the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they will take on AS Roma.
Sky Sports reports that this success has sparked interest from Tottenham, who have made Alonso a target as successor to Antonio Conte. Vincent Kompany and Julian Nagelsmann are also in the frame for the job, with Alonso being the oldest of the three. Whether Alonso is the leading candidate or whether he would even accept the job at Tottenham remains to be seen, but interest from north London is a testament to the excellent progress he has already made since beginning his life as a head coach in San Sebastian in 2019.
Alonso typically employs a 3-4-3 shape at Leverkusen – similar to that used by Jurgen Klopp in recent games – and his side have been in free-scoring form of late. During their current 14-game unbeaten run, Leverkusen have scored 29 goals and conceded only 11, with winger Moussa Diaby (13), right-back Jeremie Frimpong (seven) and striker Adam Hlozek (six) all contributing regularly. Tottenham are not the first Premier League club to show interest in Alonso, with the Guardian‘s Jacob Steinberg claiming in April that Chelsea had considered the Spaniard for their vacant role.