Promising future, interesting statements from Xabi Alonso about Klopp

Liverpool has the small matter of a quadruple push to distract itself from the noise surrounding the potential heir to Jürgen Klopp. But even that has not been enough to keep much of a stopper on speculation about Xabi Alonso, who became the talk of the town to an even greater extent at the weekend.

The star who is worth 117 million and has already said yes to Liverpool

The former Liverpool midfield maestro masterminded a win over perennial Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, delivering the three points in style as Bayer Leverkusen moved five clear at the top of the Bundesliga. An unbeaten season is still within Alonso's reach. There doesn't look to be anyone better-placed to take over from Klopp. In the meantime, however, the German is fully focused on ending his Liverpool career on a high.

He is being aided in that quest by lots of relatively new faces, in what he has termed 'Liverpool 2.0'. It remains to be seen who will take over to see out that particular project, but Klopp has undoubtedly laid a lot of the groundwork, with one young star currently beating Bruno Fernandes and many other of the league's big names in an interesting area.

However Alonso had fared against Bayern Munich, he would have remained firmly on the Liverpool radar as a potential Klopp successor. Exciting though it was, one game will not unduly influence the thinking of the FSG hierarchy. But to see Bayern dismantled like that, with Alonso wielding such control over the contest, was certainly an eye-opener. And while the 90 minutes on the pitch might not have been of particular note to Liverpool, it will have loved what he said afterwards.

Not Xabi Alonso, the manager who is getting closer and closer to Anfield

Jürgen Klopp has another star on his hands

If Alonso does take over at Liverpool, he will be inheriting a talented bunch. Klopp has firmly bedded in stars of the future like Darwin Núñez and Ibrahima Konaté, but the next generation is not far behind either. In particular, Jarell Quansah has been a revelation this season. Not only does he join all of the other Liverpool center-backs in the overall Premier League top 10 for aerial duel win percentage, he's also very comfortable in possession. He's even out-passing Kevin De Bruyne, attempting more than 100 passes per game, as his sample size slowly grows. Quansah also leaves Bruno Fernandes behind, although that's surprisingly easier than expected, with the Manchester United star way down in 107th for attempted passes per match.