Tottenham Hotspur had any number of potential managers that they could’ve appointed, but none are more handsome than Bayer Leverkusen head coach and former Liverpool and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso. Alas, Spurs will have to make do with a manager who may be equally or more talented, but at least marginally less attractive — Xabi is staying put for another season. This comes from his own mouth, as reported by BILD:
Klares Bekenntnis von @XabiAlonso vor dem
Rückspiel: „Ich bin glücklich hier mit dem Team und dem Klub. Ich mache mir keine Gedanken um meine Zukunft.“ Nachfrage von BILD: „Das heißt, Sie sind bis 2024 hier Trainer?“ #Alonso: „Das ist korrekt!“ pic.twitter.com/Kpk1QqYFmz— BILD B. Leverkusen (@BILD_Bayer04) May 17, 2023
Clear confession of @XabiAlonso before the second leg [of the Europa League semifinal vs. Roma]: “I’m happy here with the team and the club. I’m not worried about my future.” BILD asked: “That means you’ll be a coach here until 2024?” #Alonso : “That’s correct!”
Alonso was one of the potential managers on Tottenham’s shortlist after the sacking of Antonio Conte (and Cristian Stellini), and if we take him at his word here then he’s also the third in the last week and a half to remove himself from consideration after Vincent Kompany and Julian Nagelsmann. Now, football is football and if Spurs decided that they really wanted to make a push for Xabi I’m sure it could still happen — this isn’t a contract extension, just the word of a manager in a press conference ahead of a major European semifinal. (What else is he going to say in that situation?)
So this potentially isn’t the iron-clad I’m out like what Spurs said about Nagelsmann or Kompany extending his Burnley contract, but it does seem less likely now. That’s maybe okay — Xabi was one of Fabio Paratici’s targets and it always seemed kind of a long shot compared to some of the other targets including Arne Slot. But, a potential RIP to my earnest hopes for a renewal of the Tottenham HOT-spurs era when Andre Villas-Boas sexily skulked along the sidelines with his side-buckle coat while Scott Parker, Mousa Dembele and David Bentley glided around the pitch. Alas.
