9 months ago
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Photo by Jörg Schüler/Bayer 04 Leverkusen via Getty Images
According to the chatter, Bayern may try to convince Xabi Alonso to take over before the end of the season—which would be the most Bayern move ever.
Bayern Munich have something of a history of poaching the best players from around the Bundesliga, preferring especially to sign their top targets as free transfers that deprive their title rivals of both those top players as well as of any compensation for them.
Now, at least according to Raphael Honigstein in The Athletic, they are targeting manager Xabi Alonso from current league leaders Bayer Leverkusen—and they could try to bring him in before the end of a season “with a view to taking over permanently in the summer.”
It’s a suggestion that should raise eyebrows, one that would speak to a perhaps unmatched entitlement in club football by trying to derail the season of a title challenger—and current leaders and favourites—by signing their manager before the season is over.
With Alonso in charge, Leverkusen are in the midst of an undefeated season, having won 18 games and drawn four while opening an eight-point lead on Bayern with 12 games to play. Meanwhile at Bayern, Thomas Tuchel has lost three in a row in all competitions.
From a Liverpool perspective, of course, the hope will be that having broken through as a manager at a league rival, Alonso won’t want to move directly to Bayern despite playing there—and one at least imagines he’ll have the loyalty to not do so mid-season.
Regardless, the very idea that Bayern could see such an attempt to disrupt an opponent in a title challenge as a legitimate football move speaks to something quite petulant, ugly, and entitled in the mindset of a club that have won 11 consecutive domestic titles.
