Alonso is the ideal candidate to fill Klopp's shoes; success is impossible to predict
Finding a manager is a piece of cake. It is impossible to predict how successful he will be.
All signs point to Xabi Alonso taking Jurgen Klopp's place at Anfield and that he will also be the ideal candidate to fill them with a sock full of similar performances to the German.
A friendly warning here that it is not always the case that past performance guarantees future performance.
At West Ham we believed we had pulled off a coup with the appointment of Manuel Pellegrini, whose list of achievements included a spell at Real Madrid and winning the Prem with Manchester City.
It didn't work, the collaboration lasted 18 months.
Sometimes it is the fit, understanding and trust between the manager, the players, the supporters and the board that guarantees success or failure.
As Kevin Kegan famously said of his time at Newcastle, his relationship with the board was based on trust and understanding. . . they didn't understand him and he didn't trust them!
In 2020, Klopp led Liverpool to their first title in thirty years and with City monopolizing it ever since, the crown prince of Anfield will have quite a task on his hands.
Alonso has shown his potential at Bayer Leverkusen, especially in the 3-0 thrashing of Bayern Munich on Saturday. That result extended Leverkusen's lead at the top to five points and makes Bayern's chances of an 11th consecutive title look rather sick.
Thomas Tuchel was pale at the best of times, but was even whiter because he had been tactically outwitted by a manager who has only been in the job for two years.
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There may have been a collective licking of the lips at Anfield.
The Red half of Merseyside has been bereft by the loss of Klopp, whose decision to take a break after this season, which I admire, was not predicted.
Whatever Alonso or any other appointment brings, I doubt his personality will ever match Klopp's impact on Merseyside or this country.
He is the German we all love. Sincere, passionate, honest and extremely knowledgeable, he leaves so much behind that he doesn't need a statue.
But as his successor follows the man who won Liverpool's 20th top-flight title, the Kop board will surely regard Alonso as The One. He admits Liverpool is his favorite among his many former clubs.
Shortly before leaving for Real Madrid in 2009, he said: “I understand what Liverpool means to so many people.
“It's such a special club and I just didn't want to leave.
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“The fans couldn't have done more to show me how they felt. . . Whenever I went out for dinner or coffee, there was always someone who said, 'We'd like you to stay'.”
Alongside Steve Gerrard as a defensive midfielder in Rafa Benitez's excellent side, he was a key player in perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of the Champions League: the Miracle of Istanbul in 2005.
Alonso considered it the best moment of his career, so how could he resist returning as The Gaffer.
And once he gets there, how he'd fancy a few meetings with the great Pep Guardiola and, probably his greatest friend in football, Arsenal's Mikel Arteta, a childhood friend with plans to overtake Pep and Klopp this season for the title.