Liverpool issued frank Xabi Alonso warning as Arne Slot rumors swirl

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Xabi Alonso has been linked with the Liverpool job for several years now, and the speculation has only increased since he was fired by Real Madrid in January with Arne Slot under pressure

Xabi Alonso continues to be linked with the Liverpool jon(Image: Getty Images)

Liverpool has been warned that there are no guarantees that Xabi Alonso would come in and do a better job than Arne Slot.

Slot is under increasing pressure at Anfield after Liverpool slumped to its 15th defeat of the season on Saturday, going down 4-0 away to Manchester City to exit the FA Cup at the quarter-final stage. The loss was the heaviest of Slot's tenure, and sends the Reds into this week's Champions League clash away to Paris Saint-Germain low on confidence.

Many fans are keen to see a managerial change take place in the coming weeks and months, and former Reds midfielder Alonso has been heavily linked with a return to Merseyside ever since he was fired by Real Madrid three months ago.

Barnes, though, thinks that Slot deserves time to try and prove that he is capable of turning the Liverpool ship around.

"Well, I understand the clamor because Xabi is a Liverpool favourite," Barnes told the Liverpool Echo. "But did he not fail at Real Madrid? Was he actually a successful manager?

"Of course, don't get me wrong, I think Xabi is great and he did a good job. But he got sacked by Real Madrid for failure, didn't he? That's why they got rid of him.

"Of course we do like the clamor for ex-players. Steven Gerrard’s been mentioned before. So I understand the way fans are. But this is the way fans are. They're very fickle."

John Barnes is not convinced that Xabi Alonso would provide the magic fix to Liverpool's problems(Image: Getty Images)

Barnes added: "We won the league with Arne Slot and all of a sudden we want to sack him?

"If he then goes and Alonso comes – suppose Alonso fails in his first six months or first year, are we going to say sack him and bring somebody else in?

"I always support the managers, whoever they are, because they come to the club because of their success, because they're good managers, and they have to be given time.

"Jurgen Klopp was 20 points off the top when he first came, but we stuck with him. So I think Xabi will be a great manager one day, but I want Arne Slot to stay."

Barnes believes that this season was always likely to be a tricky one due to the amount of changes that there were to the squad last summer.

"We signed lots of players," Barnes said. "They're all good players individually. We're trying to find the right blend. We're trying to find the right way of playing.

"When you sign five or six players to come into the first team, it'll take time. We're trying to find a new way of playing, but you can see that when we play well, we really play well. We just need to get some consistency."