Liverpool target Xabi Alonso gets surprise blessing to leave Bayer Leverkusen - 'No one would be angry'

Alonso is a top target for Liverpool as they try to find a successor to Jurgen Klopp following his decision to stand down after almost nine years in charge.

The former midfielder spent five years of his playing career at Anfield and won the Champions League with the Reds in 2005.

But Bayern are also in the market for a new manager, with Thomas Tuchel to leave when this campaign is over.

Alonso also enjoyed a three-year spell at the end of his career at Bayern and some reports suggest he would favour taking over at the Allianz Arena.

The 42-year-old has overseen a stunning season so far at Leverkusen, with the German side 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

Leverkusen are yet to lose a single game in all competitions and are also in the quarter-final of the Europa League and semi-final of the German Cup.

Hradecky, the experienced Finland goalkeeper, would love Alonso to stay beyond this season.

But he admits no one would stand in his way if he decides to take an offer from elsewhere.

Hradecky said: "That’s our wish and dream, for him to stay, but no one would be angry or argue if he wins the Bundesliga and decides to go another route.

"We see on a daily basis that he loves to be in Leverkusen. He enjoys Dusseldorf where he lives. From another point of view: How can you make it better than this season?

"We have built something that’s worth a trophy. I hope it comes. Football is cruel sometimes, you don’t want Bayern breathing down your necks but hopefully the platform we have created is enough.

"We’re getting closer. That’s the mission. We have to keep believing. We are getting closer to our dream and I hope it happens.

"There’s a lot to ponder but he’s enough of a gentleman to make the right decision and only he knows what’s best for him."

Hradecky has been at Leverkusen since 2018 but he admits he has not experienced a team like Alonso has built.

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The 34-year-old added: "The atmosphere he’s brought in Leverkusen, we didn’t have it before. I think it comes from the way he has experienced football.

"In Madrid, Liverpool - that’s the level we strive for every day. It was here when he came but it’s up here right now. The hype is definitely justified.

"It’s the best Leverkusen team I’ve experienced. We have 18, 19, 20 players - and it doesn’t matter who plays. There are a lot of different tactics.

"There’s a lot to take in from the opponents’ perspective. It’s hellishly difficult to play against us."

Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeness recently said that multiple clubs are trying to lure Alonso.

Hoeness said at a Munich Trade Fair: "He [Alonso] has proved that he can be a coach for the big time.

"There are hardly any suitable coaches who are currently free. Rather they are coaches who are under contract somewhere and possibly have great success.

"And that makes it much more difficult because clubs like Liverpool, Real Madrid, Leverkusen and FC Bayern are working on it [securing Alonso]. It’s not so easy to tell them that Bayern is the measure of all things."