Former Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has urged Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso to learn from his experience, and perhaps turn down the likes of Liverpool this summer.
SportBILD cover comments from the former Real Madrid manager today as the speculation around Alonso continues to mount.
The Spanish coach has been earning himself a growing list of admirers thanks to his work at Bayer Leverkusen, who he has led to the top of the Bundesliga with an exciting, attacking brand of football.
That, coupled with his development of players at the German cub, has made him one of the rising coaches in Europe and seemingly on the list of some of the biggest clubs.
At the moment it appears to be a race between Liverpool and Bayern Munich, who have both been credited with interest extensively over the last month as they look for the man to succeed Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel respectively.
Alonso is very much on their lists and set to be in the mix, although it is yet unknown if he would be willing to leave Leverkusen and the project he is building there.
Schuster believes he may not be and advises the Spanish coach to think deeply about the interest from Liverpool and Bayern, perhaps even learning a lesson from his own career path.
He was manager at Getafe and impressing there in 2007 when Real Madrid came calling. He moved to the Bernabeu but only lasted a year at the club and has now hinted he regrets that decision somewhat.
“Xabi’s situation reminds me of a similar situation I was in a few years ago,” he said.
“Back then, I coached my team Getafe into the European Cup and then went to Real Madrid. Afterwards I thought to myself that I would have liked to have played with Getafe as a smaller club in the European Cup.
“This was the first time in Europe for this club in its history and would therefore have been a very nice story. So, it’s hard to decide.
“I would understand Xabi in every decision he makes. But what I can say for sure is that sometimes you have to be careful not to want everything too quickly.
“As a young coach you still have a lot to learn. And if, like Xabi, you already have your own team that he has strongly brought together and developed, it is also a really interesting task to go one step further with this team.”
