EXCLUSIVE: Xabi Alonso targeted as Man City’s Pep Guardiola replacement

Robin Bairner

Updated: 9 Jan 2026 10:26 GMT
4 min read

Xabi Alonso, Real Madrid, The Transfers Podcast — © IMAGO

Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso has been targeted as a potential replacement for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Duncan Castles has revealed on the Transfers Podcast in conjunction with FootballTransfers.

Article continues under the video

Alonso has had an uncomfortable time at the Bernabeu since moving to Los Blancos from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2025 and remains a possibility for City as they monitor potential replacements for Guardiola.

The former Liverpool midfielder has struggled to win the faith of either the Real Madrid hierarchy or squad since heading back to Spain.

Potential for Xabi Alonso to leave Real Madrid for City

“Xabi Alonso has been included on Manchester City’s list of potential replacements for Pep Guardiola,” Castles revealed.

“Guardiola has a contract until the end of 2027, but as we’ve discussed for years now, City have been preparing for the point at which he decides he’s had enough and wants to move on to other areas, probably national team management, a break, and then national team management again, with a lot of time on the golf course in between.

“One of the candidates is Xabi Alonso, who joined Real Madrid in the summer but has struggled to consistently win at the Spanish club, to the point where there has been discussion about whether Madrid might part company with him.

“At the same time, the club have been defending their summer recruitment process, pointing out that they currently have one of the youngest and most valuable squads in Europe, and briefing that Alonso could have made better use of the resources available to him.

“There is clearly the potential for a parting of ways. Alonso had a strong reputation before he went to Germany and then turned himself into probably the most desired manager in European football by taking the Bundesliga title off Bayern Munich with an unbeaten domestic season and adding the German Cup to that trophy tally.

“He was the preferred choice at Liverpool before Arne Slot was given the job but ultimately elected to join Real Madrid on a three-year contract in the summer.”

© IMAGO - Xabi Alonso: Man City's next manager?

Guardiola exit rumours building

Rumours linking Man City to Guardiola alternatives have been increasingly circulating for weeks, with former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca a further candidate.

These whispers have left the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss unimpressed.

“As we saw with the Enzo Maresca sacking and the briefing that Maresca had informed Chelsea of his conversations with Manchester City about potentially replacing Guardiola, that didn’t go down very well with the Catalan manager, who then had one of his more discursive press conferences talking about his future after that came out,” Castles explained.

For the moment, Guardiola will have his full focus on the Premier League title race, with City trailing Arsenal by six points with 17 games to be played.

The FootballTransfers app

Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.

The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:

•Google Play

•App Store