Nine quotes to explain Xabi Alonso’s philosophy as a manager: Pep, Carra…

Xabi Alonso has been doing a fine job with Bayer Leverkusen and he’s now being heavily linked with the Liverpool job.

With Jurgen Klopp set to step aside at Anfield at the end of the campaign, Alonso is fancied by many as the man to take over at Anfield.

His Bayer Leverkusen side currently top the Bundesliga and remain the only team in Europe’s top five leagues who are yet to lose this season.

Having worked under some of the most decorated coaches around – Rafael Benitez, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti to name just four – the 42-year-old has had quite the education during his playing career. Here are nine quotes to explain his managerial philosophy.

“The first lesson that I learned from them is that the players need to follow you, they need to believe in what they are doing, they need to know that they are improving with you coaching, with your help,” Alonso told Diario AS.

“We want to play modern football. That means: intensity with and without the ball, being more active than passive and with a strong mentality.

“The team has to know how we want to play. Dominant, intense, controlled, with a winning mentality and that should be from the first kick-off until the final whistle. I will try to give the players clear instructions and ideas.”

“Once I retired, I knew that I would take the step into dugout and I believed the words of Johan Cruyff: ‘The most beautiful thing is to play football, the second best thing is to coach,’” Alonso told l’Equipe after he first went into coaching.

“How the people speak about him – all the managers that he had in his career – is like a human being. One of the best midfielders I’ve ever seen in my life.

“He understands the game and has curiosity to understand the game. He knew