Slot sent ‘final months’ Liverpool sack warning amid remarkable Man Utd parallel

Liverpool boss Arne Slot has been told that he must squash the Xabi Alonso rumours once and for all unless he wants to end up like Louis van Gaal at Manchester United.

The Dutchman is under growing pressure – at least in the media – due to the Reds’ pitiful title defence. The reigning Premier League champions have been out of the title race for months, despite spending north of €450 million on new signings in the summer.

At the weekend, Liverpool suffered a last-minute defeat to Bournemouth, which put Slot’s future under the microscope yet again. With Xabi Alonso available, speculation increasingly suggests that the 47-year-old could be sacked.

Transfer insider David Ornstein believes that Liverpool will stick with Slot for the time being – after all, he won the league last term – but there is an acceptance that results and performances must improve urgently.

Meanwhile, back in Slot’s native Netherlands, respected De Telegraaf journalist Valentijn Driessen has taken a more pessimistic view of the Liverpool head coach’s situation.

Slot could become Liverpool’s Van Gaal

Driessen reports that Liverpool have already made contact with Alonso’s camp to gauge whether he would be interested in the job. The Spaniard was the Reds’ preferred choice to replace Jurgen Klopp in 2024 before he announced his decision to stay at Bayer Leverkusen.

“Only with results in the Premier League and Champions League can Slot silence the rumours about Alonso,” Driessen writes. “But it could also be that the Liverpool management has already made a decision and Slot is in his final months.”

Driessen likes the situation to that of Louis van Gaal at Man Utd a decade ago. The Dutchman rubbished rumours about Jose Mourinho coming in to replace him, only to be dismissed after winning the FA Cup.

“In December 2015, rumours circulated that Jose Mourinho would succeed Louis van Gaal at Manchester United in the summer of 2016. Van Gaal laughed it off, didn’t believe it, and spoke of fantasists who wanted to make his life miserable.

“Then, in May 2016, on the day he won the FA Cup with Manchester United, a completely stunned Van Gaal was summarily dismissed. Shortly after, Mourinho stepped in as his replacement, having been hired six months earlier.”

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