'Unthinkable' Xabi Alonso scenario addressed as pressure grows on Arne Slot

Arne Slot won the Premier League in his debut season at Liverpool, but former Reds striker Neil Mellor says the current boss shouldn't feel pressure from Xabi Alonso's availability after leaving Real Madrid

Xabi Alonso is looking for his next job(Image: Getty Images)

Arne Slot has been reassured that he should not feel heightened pressure as Liverpool's head coach, despite the availability of Xabi Alonso.

Liverpool legend Alonso left his role as Real Madrid manager following a defeat to Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup last week, a mere six months after taking up the position. Slot clinched the Premier League title in his first season at the helm at Anfield, stepping into the considerable shoes left by long-serving Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.

However, this season has seen the Dutchman's position come under intense scrutiny, with the Reds currently sitting in fourth place, albeit with a strong presence in both the Champions League and FA Cup.

Former Liverpool forward Neil Mellor has brushed off suggestions that Slot should be worried about the possibility of Alonso potentially stepping into his shoes in the near future. "No, surely not," said Mellor. "He (Alonso) had great success at Leverkusen. (But) Real Madrid is Real Madrid, isn't it?

"It's not worked out at Real Madrid. Do you know what? The way that Real Madrid go, he might go back there in a few years anyway, because that's how it sometimes works. I don't think he's tarnished his record as a manager, and he'll be back stronger.

"But honestly, Arne Slot won the league in his first season, which was beyond expectations. And all of a sudden, we've had a transitional season, a lot of change at the football club. I think it'd be very unfair to be piling pressure on him to lose his job at this stage. Yes, there'll always be pressure because he's Liverpool manager and Liverpool have to succeed.

Arne Slot is under pressure at Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

"And ultimately top four is seen as probably okay this season and hopefully a trophy, whether it's FA Cup, Champions League. But no, he's not under pressure with Xabi Alonso losing his job."

However, Mellor added: "If Liverpool weren't to get in the Champions League next season, it would be a massive disappointment. It's unthinkable that Liverpool will miss out at this moment in time. If that happens, that's when it's a different conversation."

Speaking to OLBG, Mellor also reckons Slot isn't receiving sufficient recognition from some quarters for transforming the squad he took over from Jurgen Klopp into Premier League champions.

"I don't like it when I've heard people say Arne Slot won it with Jurgen's team," he said. "I completely disagree with that. Arne Slot inherited an incredible squad of players without a doubt. But he still had to manage those players.

"He still had to manage them and guide them and tactically set them up to win the Premier League. He put (Ryan) Gravenberch in a six. Jurgen Klopp never did that. He put (Luis) Diaz down the middle as a nine. Jurgen didn't do that.

"He had to manage the Trent (Alexander-Arnold), Virgil van Dijk, and (Mohamed) Salah contract situation and prove to them that he was good enough as a coach and a manager for them to stay at Liverpool. Because if he wasn't, they don't stay.

"And it unsettles Liverpool's season. So Liverpool won the league with all that going on in the background.

"Liverpool always had to move on, and to move on so quickly and win something so quickly with Slot was brilliant. But can that happen every season? No, I don't think it can."