Hmm Raul, the angel of Madrid is managing Castilla. He turned down an offer from Real Sociedad. Real are grooming him by the looks of it.
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I would have thought his next stop is Munich rather than Madrid,if it were to happen in the next year or 2 Hopefully he can achieve something big with Leverkusen before making a move to us if/when Klopp makes his decision to move on.
As I said he has started well.
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I’ve always been sure that he’d do well as a manager. You could see it when he was a player, he’s a natural leader and has the necessary intelligence to go with it.
Not right now, but he’ll surely end up managing Bayern or Madrid. Leverkusen might rapidly become too small for him, but right now, it’s the perfect career step for him.
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No matter how much I dislike that prospect, it’s going to happen at some point. Though I dream that he will keep managing clubs like Dortmund, Napoli, Liverpool.
Especially the latter! 
Very likely that he’ll be our manager at some point.
It’s about timing and at the moment it doesn’t look like he‘ll take over right after Klopp. 
I don’t want him to go to another big club before us 
Just watched the Leverkusen vs Freiburg game. Xabi has coached a team to play flowing football. The defending is rather cumbersome though.
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I think Xabi will become a legendary manager. He has the tactical knowledge and played for the best teams and managers. He is like the prime platinum ranked version of Arteta
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Balague:
“Xabi Alonso goes to Bayer Leverkusen and thinks: if it doesn’t work well, I go to Real Sociedad and start over. If it goes well, Real Madrid or Liverpool. And it’s going so well that next, whenever that is, will be Liverpool or Real Madrid. That’s the plan, the masterplan. He’s not doing anything that is absolutely new, but is doing a mixture of things that allow the team to win.”
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It’s an interesting dynamic.
If he was most other people you see what he’s doing at a club like Leverkusen and question how well those methods would translate to a club full of big players with big egos. But there aren’t many players at big clubs who are going to come out on top in a “put your medals on the table” contest, which immediately changes that dynamic.
You then flip that and acknowledge that having a storied playing career isn’t enough to do well as a manager, but then there aren’t many ex players with such a storied career who go an put the work in at a club like Leverkusen and demonstrate their competency so quickly and clearly.
One of the lessons people should take from Rodgers’ various jobs is that managers really earn their money in adversity, and its a completely different job with different skills required when things aren’t going well compared to when it is. As much as people are reluctant to admit it, Rodgers is one of the best there is at operating a situation when everyone is feeling good about things. But at some point you have to face up to something going wrong and Rodgers just doesn’t have it in him to manage those situations. That looks to be last remaining unknown for Xabi.
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Yeah I’m quite curious about how it will work out for him when there will occur an injury crisis for instance , or unfair ref decisions hitting the team. That’s when he’ll show his worth. But I’m quite sure that he’ll go on and deal with it before hitting a new high. He’s that kind of character imo. We’ll see.
Ancellotti springs to mind, a manager he has worked with for quite some time. They have the same kind of profile and personality. And the same kind of footballing pragmatism as well, as it seems.
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A very interesting article:
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He wants the Man Utd job! 
Probably on Madrid’s radar big time
Real have learned a thing or two since the early 00’s era, but Xabi might get the Real job, get the sack and then get the Liverpool job in… no time.
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Ancelotti extended his Real contract until 2026
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Just saw that, interesting.
Ancelotti tied up until 2026 at Real Madrid, Jurgen Klopp has the same time to run on his Liverpool deal too.
Lots of ifs here, but if Alonso keeps progressing, and if Jurgen doesn’t want to extend any longer, I would love to see Xabi Alonso become our next manager.
Long time to go and way too many variables, but Ancelotti staying on at Real Madrid arguably makes Alonso to Liverpool a smidge more likely.