Liverpool missing out on Xabi Alonso does not spell doom for the future

If you have not been following the reports late Thursday and into early Friday (depending on when you read this), it is confirmed that Liverpool are no longer in active pursuit of Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso.

Alonso confirmed that he wishes to stay another season with the current Bundesliga leaders. I wish him all the success in the world.

However, this does mean that the manager search at Anfield is taking a new turn. There are still plenty of viable candidates and Michael Edwards and his staff have been doing their due diligence for just this possibility.

Yes, it would have been an amazing transition to go from Jurgen Klopp to a club legend like Xabi Alonso. Especially one that could be coming off a multiple trophy haul in Germany.

Things were almost fitting too perfectly and everything matched up, until they didn't. I do not think this spells doom and gloom at Anfield as some might think though.

The culture and structure that has been built in the last decade with Klopp and Co. means that whoever does get the Liverpool job is coming into one of the best situations in world football.

The presumed new frontrunner for example, Ruben Amorim would be a very strong hire. He matches a lot of the criteria that Edwards and Liverpool are looking for. A young, successful manager that plays attractive football and does so under a modest budget.

Sporting CP have won multiple trophies already under Amorim, who is actually younger than Alonso, and are in a spot to win the League title this season as well.

Another name that has come up is a familiar one, Roberto De Zerbi of Brighton. Liverpool fans will get a close up view of him on Sunday in the Reds return to Premier League action.

However, he is another example of a manager that wants to play on the front foot and gets the players to buy-in to what his vision is. That is half the battle with high-level management. His Brighton sides have far outperformed their means in his tenure and his ability to grow young talent is surely something that Liverpool will be keen to explore.

A Darkhorse name that seems like an outsider at this point would be Julian Nagelsmann who is the current boss of the Germany national team.

Nagelsmann has had success at both RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich before his current role so he would not be daunted by the task of taking over for Klopp at Anfield.

Regardless of whoever Liverpool does decide to hire, the talent that is already at the club should give fans and ownership confidence the drop-off will not be significant.

Strong leaders like Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker, Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and others means there will not be a drop in standard or professionalism. Combine this with the prodigious young talents that have flourished this season and Liverpool will be fine going forward.

It will obviously be different, and missing out on Xabi Alonso is a bummer. That just means the future will take a new path, and as long as that path continues on the road started under Klopp, sign me up.