‘Superstar’: Journalist says 41-year-old manager could go to Real Madrid instead of Tottenham now

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Raphael Honigstein has tipped Tottenham-linked Xabi Alonso to join either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich once he leaves Bayer Leverkusen.

Speaking on The Athletic’s Walk On Podcast, Honigstein was speaking about Alonso after he was linked to the Tottenham job in recent weeks.

Indeed, it has been reported recently that Alonso is actually Spurs’ top target to replace Antonio Conte, but Honigstein believes that he will stay one more season at Bayer Leverkusen before making a switch to either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich.

Alonso set for a massive job

Honigstein gave his verdict on Alonso’s career path.

“He has been so impressive with how he has made them play as a unit, he’s still evolving and adding more elements. He has a unique combination of traits, he’s been showing off on the training pitch, he’s so charismatic, and his background as a player for the best managers in the world, both Pep and Jose, all of those influences mean he has superstar written all over him,” Honigstein said.

“It’s no wonder that after less than a year in charge he’s already being spoken about as a candidate for really great things. I think he’ll stay one more year at Leverkusen, but then he’ll be in the mix for Real Madrid, Bayern Munich if they need a manager, he’ll be in hot demand because he has all of these things.”

On the up

Alonso is certainly a manager whose stock is rising right now, but, as we all know, things can change very quickly in this game.

12 months ago you would have said that Graham Potter was on course to maybe get the England job within the next five years, but now, he’s on the scrapheap, the same applies to Steven Gerrard after being linked with Liverpool for so long.

Alonso has impressed so far, but we only have a small sample size, so to tip him for Real Madrid or Bayern Munich at this point seems a bit much.

Where Alonso ends up next remains to be seen, and it will be interesting to see how he would handle an approach from Tottenham this summer.