Jurgen Klopp has hailed Xabi Alonso as the “stand-out” manager in the new generation of coaches.
Alonso is the hot favourite to succeed Klopp at Liverpool when he leaves this summer
the former Reds midfielder is chasing trophies on three fronts with Bayern Leverkusen.
Klopp
“Xabi is doing an incredible job,”
"If there were not the rumours around, that’s completely independent, if you had asked me eight weeks ago about Xabi Alonso, I would have gone ‘Oh my God’.
“The dinosaurs if you want, Ancelotti, Mourinho, Guardiola, maybe me, we will not do it - OK maybe Mourinho - but all the rest of us will not do it for the next 20 years.
"The next generation is already there and I would say Xabi is the stand-out in that department.”
Klopp added
"For the time it’s taken, he’s put his proper stamp on it
“Nobody knows if that’s always the way he wants to play or if it’s the way this team specifically plays. He’s not long enough in the business to tell, but obviously the coaching part is exceptional. That’s clear.
“He’s a former world-class player, obviously from a coaching family as well, which helps a little bit, he was like a coach already when he was playing.
"The football he’s playing, the teams he sets up, the transfers he did, it was all absolutely exceptional
Klopp stated
“I played a long time in my life in the Bundesliga and that is super-impressive,”
“Leverkusen were clearly the better side in the first game and that’s rare
“To be honest when we beat Bayern at Dortmund, it was a bit of defending very well, counter-attacking and taking the momentum. But Leverkusen were simply better.
"That was probably the real surprise given the short time he was there and the fact that it’s a young team
"He has made super signings for this team, exactly what they needed and that’s really a very special job. Everybody would say exactly the same. In Germany, they talk like this. Wow, that is really impressive.”
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