Liverpool make Arne Slot sack decision as Xabi Alonso stance clarified

Tom Weber

• Updated: 3 Apr 2026 19:20 BST
• 5 min read

News

Liverpool chiefs have arrived at a decision over whether or not to end the Arne Slot era at Anfield this summer, following the club's pitiful Premier League title defence.

The Reds have gone from champions of England to potential Conference or Europa League participants in the space of less than 12 months. It has been a dire season by Liverpool's lofty standards, best illustrated by the fact that they have lost 10 Premier League games for the first time in a decade.

With the Anfield club far from guaranteed a spot in next season's Champions League - they are six points off Man Utd in third but also just six ahead of Sunderland in 11th - the position of head coach Arne Slot has been called into question.

Some things, such as the tragic death of Diogo Jota as well as the club's rotten injury luck, can't be blamed on Slot, but the Dutchman should nevertheless be overseeing a much better season after a record-breaking summer transfer window.

Despite the growing calls for Slot to be sacked, The Athletic reports that Liverpool are not planning to make a coaching change this summer, as things stand.

Liverpool make Slot decision

Club bosses still back the 47-year-old to turn things around next term. Fenway Sports Group wear it as a badge of honour that they have only made four coaching appointments in their 16-year ownership of the club.

They won't change their cautious approach to the coaching position and, besides, Slot still has a lot of credit in the bank after outperforming expectations in his first season at the helm, which culminated in the club's 20th league title.

Of course, the current stance is not binding. There is still plenty of football to be played, and it is the run-in now that will define Liverpool's season. They are still in the FA Cup and Champions League and can qualify for the latter competition again via the league.

By the same token, they could finish the season with no silverware and with no Champions League football - or any European football. This scenario would surely leave the Dutchman vulnerable to a sacking.

The general view is that Xabi Alonso would be a shoo-in to replace Slot should end up getting dismissed. After all, the former Reds midfielder was the club's first choice to replace Jurgen Klopp in 2024, right? Well, perhaps not.

The report states: "For all the speculation linking Xabi Alonso with Liverpool, internally they believe that those rumours are based on false assumptions, such as the idea that the Spaniard, who has been out of work since parting company with Real Madrid in January, was their first pick before they turned to Slot."

This is loosely what The Times wrote earlier in the week, suggesting that the information was received from the same source. It was added that Alonso's supposed preference for a back three - which he only occasionally used at Real Madrid - would work against him in the club's thinking.

This seems like an attempt to reshape the narrative and rewrite history in order to muzzle the intense speculation. Whatever the case, Slot remains safe - for now.

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