The CEO of Bayer Leverkusen, Fernando Carro, has mentioned Xabi Alonso’s potential transfer to Liverpool.

Since taking up the position at Leverkusen a little more than a year ago, Alonso has been performing admirably.

The Spaniard has them atop the Bundesliga table and playing in the top flight in Europe after guiding them out of difficulties the previous season.

This has led to suggestions that Alonso is now destined to take charge at one of his former clubs. Some reports have even suggested that the World Cup winner has a clause in his contract allowing any of Liverpool, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich to poach him at any time.

Now, speaking via journalist Ben Jacobs on X, Carro has claimed that there is no such clause, not one that’s written, anyway.

“No, but you don’t need a clause,” explained the director. “We have a very, very good relationship with Xabi and he knows we are a serious club.

And at the end of the day, we’re not going to force someone to stay if he doesn’t want to stay. We want him to feel so happy and so good with us that he really only wants to stay and this is our objective.

“There is nothing on paper [allowing Alonso to leave for a former club]. But sometimes agreements that are not on paper are agreements as well.

We know if he needs to do a move in the future we will be able to talk with each other. And I hope we will not need to do this because he will stay and be happy at Leverkusen.”

Leverkusen realistic about Alonso

Since taking over last year, Alonso’s time at Leverkusen has been an unmitigated success. It’s still early days this season, but they look well capable of battling Bayern for the Bundesliga title.

If Xabi can wrestle the championship away from the Munich side for the first time in years, it will be confirmation that he’s heading for a stellar coaching career.

Of course, that doesn’t have to be with one of his employer’s as a player, not at all.

But having turned out for three luminaries of European football, they’re three jobs that would surely appeal to Alonso.

From a Liverpool point of view, this is something of a moot point just at the moment. Although it would be incredible to see Xabi on the touchline back at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

As a result, Leverkusen should be much more worried about a potential approach from Bayern or Real.

With Thomas Tuchel not long into his stint in Munich, Madrid seem the more likely to be picking up the phone to Leverkusen in the near future.

If they do, it’s hard to see why Alonso wouldn’t ask his current club to allow him to leave. From there, getting him to Liverpool will be much more difficult.

Instead, Reds fans may be hoping their former midfielder honours his contract at Leverkusen, which coincidentally runs until 2026…

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England didn’t exactly inspire with its performance against Malta at Wembley, with Gareth Southgate once again proving Jürgen Klopp right in the process.

Liverpool fans’ apathy toward the England team might have dissipated a little when they saw Trent Alexander-Arnold’s name on the teamsheet on Friday night.

So often snubbed by Gareth Southgate, Reds everywhere have regularly been left perplexed as to how the 25-year-old has just 22 caps to his name.

Any of those same fans who were encouraged to watch the proceedings at Wembley would have been regretting that decision soon though. And it certainly was not through the fault of Alexander-Arnold.

A turgid display saw England labor to a 2-0 win over Malta, a side ranked 171st in FIFA’s world rankings between such football powerhouses as Fiji and Bermuda.

Despite going 1-0 up early on through a fortunate own goal, the Three Lions didn’t register a shot on target until after the hour mark — it won’t surprise you to learn that it was Alexander-Arnold who broke that particular deadlock.

 

The Liverpool academy product was one of the few positives to emerge for England at Wembley. The same can’t be said for his former club teammate though.

Jordan Henderson had another night to forget as he was given the nod yet again by Southgate. The England boss’ loyalty to the former Liverpool captain has baffled many following his move to Saudi Arabia, where he is playing in a far inferior league to the Premier League, and his recent performances for the national team have not done anything to quell any disquiet.

Having been booed following a subpar performance against Australia last month, Henderson was once again poor against Malta last night. His display even garnered a two out of 10 rating from Goal.

While that might seem harsh, you certainly couldn’t make the argument for the 33-year-old to receive a much higher rating. His slow and ponderous play rather summed up England’s display, and it was telling that the Three Lions looked much brighter once he had been substituted in the second half.

If Henderson was hoping to make a point to Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp, then he has unquestionably failed.

The midfielder suggested in an interview with The Athletic he left Anfield due to no longer feeling wanted at the club, a claim Klopp didn’t deny.