Arne Slot future: What Liverpool's "very good relationship" with Xabi Alonso means after Real Madrid sacking

Xabi Alonso's prior relationship with Liverpool will make him among the leading candidates to replace Arne Slot in the summer but not in the winter, Reds expert David Lynch has claimed.

The Merseysiders advanced into the fourth round of the FA Cup on Monday, beating Barnsley 4-1 at Anfield, though the team's performance was far from convincing.

Slot has faced criticism for much of the season, with the Reds in fourth place in the Premier League, 14 points behind first-placed Arsenal, and there have been calls for him to be replaced.

Alonso was sacked as Real Madrid boss on Monday, and Lynch insisted that he will be a strong candidate to take over from Slot, telling Sports Mole: "Alonso's sacking has a huge significance because it adds a new pressure to Arne Slot.

"We've been speaking about the idea that he is under pressure between now and the end of the season, needing to prove that he deserves to stay as Liverpool manager because he's got one year left on his contract in the summer.

"We know that at least one of the managers that Liverpool had closely tracked and spoken to when Klopp left was Alonso, and they've got a very good relationship with his representatives."

Alonso was heavily linked to the Liverpool job when Jurgen Klopp announced that he would be leaving at the end of the 2023-24 season, though he opted to stay for another year at Bayer Leverkusen before making the switch to Real Madrid.

Will Liverpool make a change this season?

The Reds are currently unbeaten in 11 games, but the club did lose nine of their prior 12 games to that period.

Liverpool have also failed to impress during their unbeaten run, but given the team are still in the Champions League and FA Cup, there is much that can still be salvaged from the campaign.

Despite concerns about Slot's ability to bring trophies to Anfield, Lynch was sceptical about a mid-season change, when he told Sports Mole: "In the short term, Alonso being available doesn't have any huge effect on Liverpool.

"I doubt that Xabi Alonso is going to want to jump straight back into to work. He'd like to take a break to the summer, so in the immediate future, he doesn't have any significance on Arne Slot.

"It's a hugely significant move from Real Madrid to sack him, and it looks like it will have reverberations that reach as far as Merseyside, but only for the summer, and in that sense, it has huge significance for Slot and Liverpool in the long term."

Should Slot win the Champions League or FA Cup with Liverpool, perhaps the club's hierarchy might think twice before appointing Alonso.

Should Liverpool be concerned by Real Madrid sacking?

During his tenure at Los Blancos, rumours of a rift between Alonso and the club's star players consistently dominated headlines.

The Spaniard's relationship with winger Vinicius Junior was said to be particularly strained, and there are some concerns about whether the former Bayer Leverkusen boss would be able to handle Liverpool's dressing room.

Speaking to Sports Mole, Lynch was confident that Alonso's problems at Real Madrid would not translate to Anfield, saying: "The fact is the players at Real Madrid don't want to be managed - they want a soft approach that Zinedine Zidane initiated.

"The players don't want to run, didn't want to do what he wanted them to do, didn't want to press and didn't want to get back in shape if they got beaten. Alonso was a bad fit for them because he wants to coach and do tactical things.

"The fact Liverpool have bounced back from their losing streak speaks volumes about the attitude and the professionalism within the squad, and the squad are in a totally different stratosphere to that at Real Madrid."

Real's stars are notoriously difficult to manage, so Alonso's dismissal should not be judged too harshly.

> Click here to listen to the full discussion on the rumours linking Xabi Alonso to Liverpool