Gary Lineker Names Xabi Alonso as Potential Liverpool Successor
Arne Slot’s first full season as Liverpool manager is starting to feel like a long, uncomfortable inquest. The latest to weigh in is Gary Lineker – and he has already named the man he could see walking into the Anfield dugout next.
Xabi Alonso.
Lineker did not dress it up on The Rest is Football podcast, speaking alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards in the aftermath of Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford – a result that dragged the Dutchman’s future back into the spotlight.
“Would Slot be there next season? Eleven defeats in the Premier League, still in the Champions League positions,” Lineker said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Xabi Alonso was there next season.”
A blunt assessment, and one that cuts through the usual end-of-season diplomacy.
From champions to questions
Liverpool are still in the Champions League places, but the picture is far less flattering than that simple fact suggests. The defending Premier League champions have stumbled badly in 2025/26, and defeat to their fiercest rivals has only intensified the glare on Slot.
Three straight league wins had eased the tension a little. Old Trafford snapped that fragile momentum. Suddenly, the conversation shifted from whether Liverpool could salvage a strong finish to whether their manager will even be there to oversee the next phase.
Shearer, though, was not ready to throw Slot overboard.
“I think in terms of what he did last season and winning the league, manager of the season,” he said. “With the issues and the problems they've had at Liverpool this year, then yeah, I do. If it were my choice, I would have him as manager, yeah.”
So the debate is clear. Lineker sees a scenario where Alonso steps in. Shearer would stick.
Alonso’s shadow over Anfield
Alonso has hovered over Liverpool’s long-term planning ever since Jürgen Klopp announced his planned departure back in January 2024. At that point, the former Reds midfielder was in the middle of a superb spell at Bayer Leverkusen, reshaping his reputation from classy playmaker to elite coach.
Last summer, he took the biggest step of his managerial career, replacing Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid. It did not last. The Spaniard was sacked earlier this year, a brutal reminder of how unforgiving the Bernabéu can be.
That dismissal has inevitably re-opened the conversation around Liverpool. A club icon, a free agent, and a fanbase already familiar with his elegance in red. Lineker’s comment simply put a public voice to a thought many have already had.
Richards turns the heat on Liverpool’s signings
While the manager debate rumbled on, Micah Richards went straight for the dressing room door. For him, the real scrutiny should fall on the recruitment and the new faces who have not yet delivered.
“I think where the scrutiny comes is the signings. They've not worked,” he said, with Shearer nodding along. “Isak has been injured, Wirtz has not been at the level we all expect, Frimpong is your right winger, your right-back, it's not really working out.
“[Milos] Kerkez has been a shadow of the player who was at Bournemouth. I don't know if that's pressure or if that's the system.”
Richards then turned to the broader identity of this Liverpool side, and his verdict was scathing.
“Liverpool are too slow, too passive, they're too easy to play against. What you normally associate Liverpool with is being aggressive, hard to beat, work-rate, especially under Klopp and they're none of those things. I'd like the manager to get a chance to turn those things around.”
That last line matters. Criticism of the players, of the signings, of the system – but a call to give Slot time to fix it.
Salah’s farewell and a bruised squad
All of this plays out against an emotional backdrop. Mohamed Salah, one of the defining figures of the Klopp era and the face of Liverpool’s modern resurgence, is set to leave Anfield at the end of the season.
He missed the defeat to United through injury but is expected to feature in Liverpool’s final three games, a brief farewell tour for one of the club’s greatest modern forwards.
Alexander Isak and Alisson were also absent at Old Trafford, stripping Slot of two more key players on a day he could have done with all the help he could get. After the match, the manager offered a cautious update.
“Alisson hasn't trained with us yet, so that makes it quite simple,” Slot said. “We're hoping for him to be ready next week, but we have to wait and see how the week will go. The same can be said about Alex - we're hoping to have him back next week.”
Injuries, underperforming signings, a fading title defence, and the looming departure of Salah.
Into that storm walks the question Lineker has already posed out loud: will Arne Slot still be there when the next season kicks off, or will Anfield be preparing itself for the return of Xabi Alonso?
