Manchester United icon Dwight Yorke is laughing off suggestions that Bayer Leverkusen manager and Liverpool icon Xabi Alonso should replace Erik ten Hag at the Premier League giants.
Now, such is Richard Keys’ reputation for letting his mouth run like a steam train heading for a derailing, this probably isn’t even in the top ten oddest suggestions he has made regarding Manchester United’s ongoing struggles.
But hiring a Liverpool icon with only one year in senior management under his belt for arguably the most high-pressure post in world football?
Dwight Yorke spoke for all of us when the treble-winning striker reacted to Keys’ recommendations with a fitting degree of bewilderment.
Xabi Alonso to Manchester United?
“Where’s that coming from, do you know what I mean?” a baffled Yorke told the former Sky Sports anchor on BeIN Sports.
“(Alonso should be hired by Manchester United) based on what?”
Now, in defence of Richard Keys (not a sentence we expected to write any time soon), there is a reason why Alonso has been linked with some of the biggest managerial roles on the continent of late, Real Madrid among them.
In the space of just over 12 months, the World Cup winner has turned Bayer Leverkusen from relegation candidates to title challengers. His free-flowing and wonderfully emphatic side are three points clear of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga table – winning 11 and losing none of their 13 matches – while matching a record set by none other than Pep Guardiola during his uber-successful spell in the Allianz Arena dugout.
On Alonso’s watch, we may be about to bid farewell to that cruel ‘Neverkusen’ nickname.
Erik ten Hag under pressure
But as far as the Manchester United job is concerned, Alonso’s Anfield allegiances and his lack of managerial experience at a club where success is expected and not just welcomed, makes the 42-year-old a rather fanciful candidate should the axe fall on Erik ten Hag.
You cannot imagine, for instance, Michael Carrick replacing Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, right?
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