Arne Slot’s Liverpool have endured a mixed 2025/26 season, which has led to speculation about the manager.
Xabi Alonso is being linked to replace the Dutchman after he left his role at Real Madrid earlier this year.
At present, it doesn’t appear as though Liverpool are close to changing managers, but there has been a suggestion that Slot will leave in the summer.
Will Xabi Alonso be Liverpool manager by the start of the 2026/27 season?
If no, where will he be instead?
Xabi Alonso pictured during Real Madrid's La Liga match against Real Betis at the Bernabeu (Credit: Getty Images/Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto).
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto
There are still several months to turn things around, and a big win over Manchester City this weekend would go a long way to getting the disgruntled supporters back on side.
However, should the Reds lose Sunday’s fixture, they could slip further behind Chelsea and Manchester United in the race for Champions League football.
The Premier League are likely to be awarded five top-tier European places again in 2026/27.
But Liverpool are sixth right now and just three points above eighth-place Sunderland, whom they are due to face next week.
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Should the Reds end up failing to get the better of Chelsea and Man Utd in the race for the Premier League, it could spell bad news for Slot.
Jamie Carragher was recently asked whether Slot needs Champions League qualification to keep his job, to which he responded: “If you don’t qualify for the Champions League, having won the league the season before and spent as much as Liverpool did, I don’t think you’ve got a leg to stand on.”
Speaking to Sky Sports News, former footballer turned pundit, Jamie O’Hara, issued a similar verdict, suggesting the 47-year-old will ‘have to go’ if the Reds don’t end up in Europe’s premier competition next term.
He said: “I think he is coming under pressure. If they are not in the Champions League, Arne Slot has to go.”
What does Arne Slot have to do to still be at Liverpool next season?
FSG are ‘firmly’ behind the manager 👀
Arne Slot on Liverpool future
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Whether Slot is dismissed for not getting Champions League football remains to be seen.
It would certainly be a major decline given the Reds won the Premier League less than a year ago.
However, from a financial point of view, Liverpool can survive without Champions League football, as Kieran Maguire has previously explained.
He said: “They’ve got an awful lot of leeway, Liverpool, because FSG run quite a conservative ship, so that they’ve not incurred huge losses.
“So one year out of the Champions League is something which they can deal with easily, two years is imperfect, if it gets to three, then you’ve got a problem, but I think we’re a long way off that.”
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