There is a significant chance that this season’s top three Premier League managers will all be products of the same grassroots club in a San Sebastian suburb.
Given what we know about Manchester City’s potential points deduction and with apologies to Brighton, the wise money on the top three may well be Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. That is Mikel Arteta, Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso, all 44 years old and all close friends after growing up together in the Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea youth team.
This week, Liverpool boss Iraola will meet both of his former team-mates as Chelsea and Arsenal come to Merseyside. It is the biggest week of his fledgling Anfield career and will shape just how serious the Reds’ ambitions are this season.
But things could easily have played out very differently. There is an alternate reality not too distant from our own where Alonso is Liverpool boss.
When Jurgen Klopp announced his departure in 2024, many expected Alonso to be the next man in at Anfield. He was the instant bookies’ favourite and the popular choice with the fanbase, having spent five years and 210 matches in Liverpool’s midfield and been one of the heroes of Istanbul, scoring the equaliser as Rafa Benitez’s side came from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan on penalties in the Champions League final in 2005.
Fast forward to early 2026, when Arne Slot was failing to back up his title triumph and his second season was continuing to disappoint, and the noise from supporters was again to hire Alonso. He had been sacked by Real Madrid and was out of work. So how close did he actually get to becoming Liverpool manager?
There’s a reality not too distant from our own where Xabi Alonso is the Liverpool manager
Alonso was a club hero at Anfield, playing 210 games in five seasons and scoring the equaliser in the Miracle of Istanbul in 2005
Alonso was certainly admired by Liverpool in the months immediately after Klopp’s resignation, but both parties insist nothing was ever as advanced as it might have seemed from the outside.
Klopp’s bombshell announcement came in the middle of Alonso’s stellar season at Bayer Leverkusen, in which he won the Bundesliga and German Cup unbeaten. He was keen to stay for another year in Germany, while Liverpool had pivoted to other candidates including Slot, Ernesto Valverde (another Basque) and then-Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim.
Perhaps there is something about the Basque identity that prompts its favourite sons to do things differently. Alonso took himself out of contention for jobs at Liverpool and Bayern Munich that summer, and Iraola quit Bournemouth this year without having another job lined up because he felt he had completed all his objectives on the south coast.
When Slot was failing this year, the conversations internally at Liverpool weren’t about Alonso. For months, the word from the Anfield hierarchy was one of support for the Dutchman. Sources close to Slot insisted he was planning to continue in his post up until around two days before the official announcement of his exit.
In stalling their decision to sack Slot, Liverpool missed out on Alonso, who decided to join Chelsea in early May. Living in London appealed to him, as did having a young squad and no European football this year, allowing him more time on the training pitch.
‘It was about the timing,’ Alonso told his former Liverpool team-mate Jamie Carragher in an interview last week. ‘For me it was the right time after Leverkusen, after Madrid. I had my time off and I wanted to choose to have a good connection, a good feeling about where to go.
‘And I knew Chelsea. I had no link but what I heard, what they had, the potential was here, few things could change. And I thought that we could start the journey together. I had a feeling that the base of the squad was very good.’
Regardless of being the Chelsea manager, Alonso will receive a rousing reception on Wednesday – just as he did in late 2024 when his Real Madrid side came to Anfield and were outplayed by Slot’s Liverpool in a 2-0 win for the Reds.
When Jurgen Klopp (left) announced his Liverpool exit in 2024, many expected Alonso to be the next manager at Anfield, while the Reds took too long to decide when Arne Slot (right) departed
Living in London appealed to Alonso, as did having a young Chelsea squad and no European football this year to give him more time on the training pitch
Iraola can also pick Alonso’s brain on how to get the best out of Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, both of whom joined Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen last year. Wirtz scored 34 goals and assisted 35 across Alonso’s two full seasons in charge.
And don’t forget to watch out for the reception Jordan Henderson gets if he plays. Liverpool’s former captain received a standing ovation when he returned to Anfield for the first time with Brentford last term.
This fourth-round tie is not all pomp, catch-ups and happy-clapping, though – it is a significant game for both Alonso and Iraola.
With no European football for Chelsea this year and Liverpool seen as a work in progress (a view that will change should they beat Arsenal on Sunday), getting one over their old pal represents both managers’ easiest route to silverware.
