Xabi Alonso: Rejecting Liverpool brandished a 'terrible decision'

Xabi Alonso formally ruled himself out of the running to be Liverpool’s next manager this week. It’s been called a ‘terrible decision'.

Xabi Alonso threw a spanner into the works at both Liverpool and Bayern Munich this week. The Spaniard announced he would remain with Bayer Leverkusen, ruling himself out for both jobs.

The two clubs each had Alonso at the top of their respective shortlists as they hunted for a new manager this year. Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel will both step down from their roles once the season is over.

And Alonso is undoubtedly the standout manager of the season. He's got Leverkusen sitting at the top of the Bundesliga and, even more impressively, they haven't lost a game in any competition all campaign.

But instead of using his new reputation to jump to a bigger club, Alonso will spend another year with Leverkusen. It's a decision that former Liverpool player Joe Cole believes is a 'terrible' one.

Joe Cole on Xabi Alonso

“I think it’s a terrible decision,” Cole told TNT Sports. “As managers, your stock goes so up and down so quickly.

"He’s the hottest property in world football right now in management, I think he should’ve made the move this summer.

“In a years’ time, it could be completely different, keeping this team together is going to be tough enough because they’ve got some fantastic players and all the giants in Europe are going to be looking at them.”

Alonso's decision will face all sort of scrutiny over the next year. After all, he's rejecting both Liverpool and Bayern Munich - two jobs nearly every manager in the world aspire to take.

He's doing it because the confidence is there that similar jobs will roll around again, perhaps even in 2025. So even if we wish Alonso would consider the Liverpool job, you've got to respect that self-belief.

A terrible decision? If Leverkusen fall apart next season, perhaps it will look that way. But it could also simply be an elite manager demonstrating the confidence his talent allows him.