Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso Could Have A Pep Guardiola-Like Effect On Soccer

When it comes to talented coaches in European soccer, there are a few reference points. Jürgen Klopp drives a high-octane, hard-hitting team at Liverpool. Carlo Ancelotti oversees an imperious Real Madrid blessed with stars. On the periphery, Unai Emery is bringing tactical expertise to Aston Villa, while the impassioned Diego Simeone keeps firing up his Atlético Madrid troops 13 seasons after picking his first 11.

Then there is the natural choice: Pep Guardiola. Manchester City’s composer is a perfectionist whose teams—strengthened by considerable funding—embody the possession-based, dominating style best. He’s won 16 trophies and counting in England, piled onto his haul at Bayern Munich and Barcelona, where his ideas first took shape.

Another coaching icon, Roma boss José Mourinho, has seen his optimistic predictions on the next influential coach come back into focus lately. The character on his mind? Xabi Alonso. “He played in Spain, England and Germany. He was coached by Guardiola at Bayern, myself and Ancelotti at Real Madrid, by Benitez at Liverpool,” Mourinho commented. “If you put all this together, I think Xabi has the conditions to become a very good coach.”

He has, and much more, since Mourinho said his piece. And, while the real accolades are yet to come, this feels like just the start.

In contrast to Guardiola’s extensive silverware collection, Alonso’s trophy count from the touchline stands at zero. Yet that’s poised to change the longer he stays in the game. His current Bayer Leverkusen team, which tops the Bundesliga standings, looks unstoppable this campaign.

Adopting a 3-4-3 formation, it’s the only unbeaten side in Europe’s top leagues—if you exclude PSV Eindhoven’s perfect record in The Netherlands—is tight in the defense and a threat in the attacking third. Brick by brick, these tools are helping him knock down a colossal wall on the continent—Bayern Munich’s 11-year streak as German league champion.

To reach this point, Alonso has morphed a side dicing with relegation into a fierce competitor, a winning animal. “I knew the potential the team had. You get to know the players, starting to create some confidence and commitment from them. That’s the manager’s job,” he told The Guardian in December, shortly before the winter break.

Therein lies the crux. The fact that Alonso has essentially torn up the scrapbook and reinvented a team in 15 months suggests he is more than just a solid coach, but someone with a steadfast philosophy. And not only from a tactical perspective but as a leader to convincingly deliver those messages to his squad. He’s spoken about those who led him, carrying a certain aura when entering a room, and it seems his knowledge and charisma are rubbing off on his willing players.

Having a steady soccer background helps Alonso’s cause. The 42-year-old hails from Gipuzkoa, Spain’s smallest province, a Basque Country catchment area that has given birth to an extraordinary number of successful coaches, such as Emery, Mikel Arteta, Andoni Iraola, Julen Lopetegui, and Imanol Alguacil—the latter managing Real Sociedad, where Alonso began his playing career and later cut his teeth as a coach with the second-string team. Guardiola was the same, although his home and grounding was the Barcelona system.

Alonso’s ongoing rise comes as some club boards experiment with retired soccer stars as managers. Especially in the U.K., there is a growing realization that however excellent Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, and its ‘golden generation’ were on the field, that doesn’t always guarantee eminence as coaches, as plenty struggle to build on their earlier feats. For its part, Leverkusen has struck gold with Alonso. A central midfielder who could sense the whole pitch around him, he’s now processed his learnings and is applying them.

Regarding soccer generally, he’s also demonstrating the best investment teams can make is on a coach. Leverkusen’s title-winning form may result in sporting director Simon Rolfes stewing over big offers for its brightest talents in the transfer market. Thanks to Alonso, they could earn the team good money. And, in any case, his growing reputation in developing youngsters means it won’t have to spend millions of dollars on replacements to breed victory in the future. He, the character driving them forward, is the key.