Liverpool have said Xabi Alonso is not the right man to succeed Arne Slot

Liverpool manager John Barnes speaks exclusively to the ECHO about speculation surrounding Xabi Alonso succeeding Arne Slot as head coach at Anfield.

John Barnes has urged Liverpool to ignore the prospect of Xabi Alonso’s return – insisting Arne Slot is still the best man for the job at Anfield.

Slott won the Premier League in his first year in charge after succeeding Jurgen Klopp but has found his sophomore season more difficult this term, with the hosts losing 10 of their 31 games so far.

Those records leave the Reds in fifth place and facing a battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League, having won just four league games since the start of 2026.

Former Bayer Leverkusen boss Alonso has been out of action since being released from his post at Real Madrid in January. The 2005 Champions League winner has been named as a possible successor at Slot if Liverpool part ways with the Dutchman at the end of the campaign.

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Reds boss Barnes, however, believes Slot should not be sacked, saying the title success of the past 12 months has given the head coach more time to get things right.

“I understand the noise because Xabi is Liverpool’s favorite,” Barnes said. “But didn’t he fail at Real Madrid? Was he really a successful manager?

“Actually, don’t get me wrong, I think Xabi is great and he did a great job. But he was fired by Real Madrid because of failure, wasn’t he? That’s why they dumped him.

“Of course we love the noise for the old players. Steven Gerrard has been mentioned before. So I understand the way the fans are. But this is the way the fans are. They are very fickle.

“We won the league with Arne Slot and suddenly we want to sack him?

“If he leaves and Alonso comes, let’s say Alonso doesn’t succeed in his first six months or the first year, are we going to fire him and bring in someone else?

“I always support the managers, whoever they are, because they come to the club because of their success, because they are good managers, and they have to be given time.

“Jurgen Klopp was 20 points off the top when he first came, but we stuck with him. So I think Xabi will be a great manager one day, but I want Arne Slot to stay.”

Liverpool return to action after the international break with an FA Cup quarter-final away to Manchester City on Saturday (April 4) followed by a Champions League last-eight first leg away to Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday 8 April.

And Barnes says the summer transfer window in the transfer market is after an uncertain year for the Slot team.

Speaking to the ECHO about OLBG, the former England international added: “To be honest, it’s been a sad time. It’s been an uncertain time.

“We’ve seen in flashes how good we can be. But I always say to people, just because we’ve spent all the money on such good players, it doesn’t mean it’s going to work all of a sudden.

“We have signed a lot of players. They are all good players individually. We are trying to find the right combination. We are trying to find the right way to play. But we have good players. We have good players.

“I didn’t feel like suddenly, because we spent £450m, we were going to run away with things. We won the league by 10 points to sign someone.

“When people said that we will run away now because we have signed all these players, unfortunately football does not work like that.

“So we’re going into the teething season with these new players. If you look at what Sunderland have done, they probably have a new squad of 11 players.

“What Jurgen Klopp has done in the past is to sign one or two players to join a stable team.

“When you sign five or six players to join the first team, it will take time. We are still trying to find a new way of playing, but you can see that when we play well, we play well. We just need to be consistent.”