Thomas Tuchel will also leave at the end of the campaign.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nAlonso said he had informed Leverkusen’s directors of his decision to stay at the club last week.<\/span><\/p>\n“We have had a lot of speculation regarding my future,” he said. “Until now we have had so many games, been pretty busy and focused, and I wanted to reflect during the international break and take a decision.<\/span><\/p>\n“The players gave me so many reasons to keep believing in the team – for their commitment, for their desire, for their hunger to have a great season. My job is not over here.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/span>Why Leverkusen’s Alonso is wanted by Europe’s biggest clubs<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSigned from Real Sociedad in 2004, Alonso went on to make 210 appearances for Liverpool and won the Champions League with the club in 2005.<\/span><\/p>\nHe left in 2009 to join Real Madrid – another team he has recently been linked with – and moved to Bayern five years later before retiring as a player in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\nAsked about interest from two of his former clubs, Alonso said: “It wouldn’t be correct of me to talk about other clubs when they are in this situation. For sure there are clubs I have a strong link [as] I played there. So I respect them.<\/span><\/p>\n“[I have] the conviction I am in the right place at Bayer Leverkusen and I want to keep growing with the club, growing with the players. <\/span><\/p>\n“We have speculated enough. I want to enjoy wherever I am and I am enjoying it at Leverkusen.”<\/span><\/p>\nAlonso moved into coaching with Real Madrid’s Under-14 side in 2018 and followed that with three years in charge of Real Sociedad’s B team.<\/span><\/p>\nIn October 2022, Leverkusen gave him his first managerial role in first-team football and, having taken over with the club second from bottom in the Bundesliga, Alonso led them to a sixth-placed finish.<\/span><\/p>\nIn his first full term in charge this season, Leverkusen are 10 points clear of champions Bayern with eight games remaining.<\/span><\/p>\nThey are also in the semi-finals of the German Cup and quarter-finals of the Europa League.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/span>Are Leverkusen set to end Bayern’s Bundesliga reign?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nKlopp ‘understands’ Alonso decision<\/h3>\n Liverpool boss Klopp says he can relate to Alonso’s decision to stay at Leverkusen and cited his own experiences as a manager.<\/span><\/p>\n“He is doing an incredible job there,” said the German. “Leverkusen has a good team and they will probably keep the team together. That’s a possibility and not all years it is like that, so I understand that he wants to do that.”<\/span><\/p>\nBefore his move to Liverpool in 2015, Klopp started his managerial career with Mainz before leading Borussia Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n“Being at a club in a similar situation [to Alonso], I did pretty much the same and I never regretted it,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\nThere is a chance Liverpool and Leverkusen could meet in the Europa League final in May, in what would be Klopp’s final game in charge of the Reds.<\/span><\/p>\nLiverpool are set to consider other candidates to replace Klopp, with Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim and Brighton’s Roberto de Zerbi <\/span>reported to be among their main targets.<\/span>external-link<\/title><path d=\"M12 0v5h11.5l-5 5H0v22h22V17.5l-2 2V30H2V12h14.5l-7.8 7.7 3.6 3.6L27 8.5V20h5V0H12z\" data-reactid=\".27xb1j552z0.0.0.0.1.$paragraph-30.$link-2.1.0.1\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media gs-u-mb-alt+ qa-story-body-media\" data-reactid=\".27xb1j552z0.0.0.0.1.$image-32\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:11.875%;\" data-reactid=\".27xb1j552z0.0.0.0.1.$image-32.0\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"gs-u-display-block story-body__media gs-u-mb-alt+ qa-story-body-media\" data-reactid=\".27xb1j552z0.0.0.0.1.$image-34\"><span class=\"gs-u-display-block gs-o-responsive-image\" style=\"padding-bottom:1.9791666666666665%;\" data-reactid=\".27xb1j552z0.0.0.0.1.$image-34.0\"><img src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/2365\/production\/_127816090_sounds_footer-1920x38-1x.jpg\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1280px) 800px, (min-width: 900px) 624px, (min-width: 600px) 976px, (min-width: 400px) 624px, 400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/400\/cpsprodpb\/2365\/production\/_127816090_sounds_footer-1920x38-1x.jpg 400w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/624\/cpsprodpb\/2365\/production\/_127816090_sounds_footer-1920x38-1x.jpg 624w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/800\/cpsprodpb\/2365\/production\/_127816090_sounds_footer-1920x38-1x.jpg 800w, https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/onesport\/cps\/976\/cpsprodpb\/2365\/production\/_127816090_sounds_footer-1920x38-1x.jpg 976w\" alt=\"Listen on Sounds footer\" class=\"qa-srcset-image\" data-reactid=\".27xb1j552z0.0.0.0.1.$image-34.0.0\"\/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/68692969\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bayer Leverkusen is right place for me to be – Alonso Xabi Alonso says he will remain in his role as Bayer Leverkusen manager next season as he believes the club is the “right place” to be as a young coach. “I am convinced it is the right decision, I am happy,” said Alonso. Leverkusen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15490,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15488\/revisions\/15490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}