Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso has explained why although he has the ambition to manage an elite team in his career - he is in no hurry to do so.
Alonso spent five years on Merseyside from 2004 to 2009, during which time he helped the Reds win the Champions League and an FA Cup.
Stints at Real Madrid and Bayern Munich followed his Anfield departure before he called time on his playing career in the summer 2017.
Since retiring from playing, the former Liverpool star has gone down the path of football management and coaching.
Alonso initially took up a youth coaching role Real Madrid before returning to the Basque country in 2019 to manage Real Sociedad B.
Reports last year linked Alonso with the manager’s job at Borussia Monchengladbach, but he opted to remain with Sociedad as he learns the ropes.
There have also been suggestions in the past that the former Spain international could be Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Anfield, but Alonso admits he is in "no hurry" to leave his current role.
“Everyone has their own decisions. I try to take the steps myself, not be pushed,” he told The Athletic.
“I have the ambition to manage an elite team, but I am in no hurry. I am very happy where I am. The timeline at the moment is just to keep our place in Segunda this year.”
Before Alonso continued on his return to the Basque country, saying: “After being away for so many years, there is always a moment to come home.
“I was starting a new career, and I knew I was going to learn here, to have the patience and the support of so many people.
“There is a very clear model here, with support, facilities, communication — it is all very natural, very fluid.
“The process is helping me to know myself, to correct things, to make mistakes. This is a place where you have a bit more space to learn.
“The players teach me a lot too, what it is to train, to play, to communicate and explain. This is my third season and it is going well.”
He then added on his coaching style: “A product reaches me having learned very good concepts. And this is the last very important step to prepare them to be professionals.
“We want them to breathe what professional football is like, the competition, the training sessions, the habits you need to make it.
“It is like a production line and we are putting them in the box to get them ready for the first team, and we have to get it right.”
