Xabi Alonso is heavily linked with the soon-to-be-vacant Liverpool job (Picture: Getty)
Dirk Kuyt has backed former Liverpool teammate to replace Jurgen Klopp at Anfield after his impressive start to his managerial career.
Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen are still yet to lose a game in the Bundesliga this season and hold a commanding ten-point lead over Bayern Munich with just eight games to go.
The Spaniard’s side are also in the Europa League quarter-finals where they will take on West Ham and could face a mouthwatering clash with Liverpool should both teams make it to the final.
The game could serve as the ultimate job interview for Alonso who is seen by Liverpool as the ideal replacement for Klopp at the end of the season when the curtain falls on his nine-year tenure at the club.
Kuyt has backed the Spaniard to be a success at Anfield if he gets the opportunity and said his managerial qualities were present even during his playing days.
‘Well, you know, if you look at former team-mates and players, sometimes you doubt they can become a coach and then you see them doing really well in a management job. But, for Xabi, I think in my mind definitely he was like a future coach,’ the Dutchman said in a wide-ranging interview with the Liverpool ECHO.
‘I followed him and the steps he made in his career. I think he did very steady to manage a couple of U23s teams but then he had his first opportunity at Bayer Leverkusen and I think it was the right step.
Dirk Kuyt spent three years at Liverpool with Alonso (Picture: Getty)
‘It is down to him that he has brought them to the next level because suddenly he is challenging for the league title in Germany and that is something that is very special.
‘Now Xabi is there and I think people almost cannot believe that someone other than Bayern Munich are going to win the league. That shows the quality of a manager like Xabi Alonso.
‘People can say maybe it has come too quick but sometimes good things come very quickly and for me, definitely, he was always a guy during our playing time that was always thinking about the game; thinking tactically; talking always tactically outside of the pitch.’
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Liverpool will face a battle on their hands if they want to secure Alonso’s services, with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid also interested in the 42-year-old.
Bayer Leverkusen’s CEO, Fernando Carro, meanwhile, insisted the club are planning for another season with Alonso who has a contract with the club until 2026.