Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeness acknowledges the club will face a difficult task in persuading Xabi Alonso to reject interest from other big clubs to succeed Thomas Tuchel in Bavaria.
Bayern look set to see their 11-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga title end this campaign, with Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen 10 points clear of the champions at the summit.
Alonso is reportedly Bayern’s top target to replace Tuchel, who will leave the club after just one full season in charge, but they face competition for the Spaniard’s signature.
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While Leverkusen are desperate to keep Alonso, Liverpool also view him as an ideal candidate to replace Jurgen Klopp, who will call time on his glittering nine-year reign at Anfield this summer.
Real Madrid – another of Alonso’s former clubs – were also credited with an interest in his services before Carlo Ancelotti signed a new contract with Los Blancos in December.
Speaking about Bayern’s interest in Alonso for the first time, former club president Hoeness told German sports network Ran: “He has proven that he can be a coach for the really big clubs.
https://t.co/v1gsrtDQxR pic.twitter.com/jh1qHR2wjX
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) March 19, 2024
“It will be much more difficult because clubs like Liverpool, Real Madrid, Leverkusen and Bayern are working on him. There are hardly any coaches who are suitable and are currently free.
“There are coaches who are under contract somewhere and could possibly have great success. It’s not so easy to tell them that Bayern is the measure of all things.”
Should Bayern fail in their attempt to lure Alonso to the Allianz Arena, Stuttgart’s Sebastian Hoeness – Uli’s nephew – has also been touted as a candidate for the job.
Asked about his success with Stuttgart, who sit third in the Bundesliga and look destined to qualify for the Champions League, Uli Hoeness said: “In my opinion, he has the disadvantage of being called Hoeness at the moment.
“If he wasn’t called Hoeness and had the same achievements, we would probably try harder for him than we have now.
“Sebastian achieved a performance that I would hardly have thought possible. I always knew that he was a great coach and I also saw that in our second team.
“He also trained quite well and worked well in Hoffenheim. At his young age, with a relatively cheap, cost-effective team in Stuttgart, he plays a type of football that is simply inspirational.”
Selfie mit dem Coach 📸✅#VfB | #ÖffentlichesTraining pic.twitter.com/wCCpRYnj9Y
— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) March 20, 2024
