Gary Neville makes Arne Slot prediction after Chelsea appoint Xabi Alonso

Manchester United legend Gary Neville says he expects Arne Slot to keep his job at Liverpool after Chelsea officially appointed Xabi Alonso as their new manager this morning.

Alonso has put pen to paper on a four-year contract with the Blues and will begin work in the role on July 1 in preparation for the 2025/26 campaign.

The Spaniard’s appointment comes a month on from the departure of Liam Rosenior, whose reign in west London came to an end after a spell of only 107 days.

Speculation over Alonso’s possible return to Premier League football has been circulating for some time, with the 44-year-old sacked as head coach of Real Madrid back in January.

Liverpool, where Alonso spent five years as a player, were initially viewed as the frontrunners for the former midfielder, though, as the Reds’ title defence crumbled and Slot’s position at Anfield came under threat.

However, the reigning Premier League champions have reportedly decided to keep faith with Slot – and the Dutchman is expected to be in the dugout for the first match of next season.

And with Alonso’s move to Stamford Bridge now confirmed, Neville cannot see Liverpool dismissing their manager anytime soon.

‘It will be really interesting to see what happens [with Alonso at Chelsea],’ the ex-Manchester United and England right-back said on Sky Sports.

‘It’s a great story for the start of next season for the Premier League.

‘We need great managers, we need managers who promising and he’s one of them who falls between both.

I thought he might go to Liverpool and with Mohamed Salah’s comments yesterday… he [Salah] has pulled the pin out of the grenade there and just thrown it in the middle of the room. He’s on his way out of the room by the way!

‘It’s not great and if he was a Manchester United player then I’d be fuming.

‘Arne Slot will not welcome that whatsoever but I think he’ll just want to get to the end of the season and get everybody out of there who aren’t going to be there next season, try and built.

‘It looks like Liverpool, with Chelsea signing Xabi Alonso this morning, it did tell me that Liverpool are going to keep their manager for next season which I’m happy about.

‘I genuinely think a manager that has won the league 12 months ago deserves an opportunity to get it right having had a more challenging season this time around. They’re still in the Champions League.

‘It’s for Liverpool to sort out their own problems, I don’t think they need Gary Neville telling them what to do, but it was a telling comment from Mohamed Salah and something that won’t be helpful.’

In their official statement, Chelsea confirmed that Alonso would be appointed ‘manager’ rather than ‘head coach’, a factor which Neville believes is ‘telling’.

‘They need someone to manage the club. I’ve said before that the club have got a lot of inexperience on and off the pitch,’ Neville added.

‘I think he’s probably said, “If I’m coming then I’m taking over, I’m not going to let other people determine my outcome in terms of recruitment, managing the medical side, managing all the other things”, and I think it is quite telling.

‘It’s like they’re handing him the keys to the safe.

‘They haven’t got things right, have they? It’s obvious, you don’t even need to debate that really, but not for the want of trying.

‘Every football club owner is desperate to try and win. They’ve made a mess of it obviously but the fact of the matter is they’ve pumped a lot of money in and no owner wants to pour money into a football club to fail, not win matches.

‘There is an element of every owner wanting to succeed, wanting to win, but they haven’t done it correctly or succeeded in what they’re trying to do.’

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