From a distance, Xabi Alonso is stealthily observed by Liverpool

‘Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More’ is a book by Alexei Yurchak about the paradoxes of Soviet life during the final 20 years or so of the Soviet Union. As such it has nothing to do with Liverpool, bear with me, but the title has come to mind a lot in the last couple of weeks.

Harvey Elliott's mentality is vital for the proper functioning of Liverpool

Football clubs are often in a state of flux to some extent, with players coming and going every season, a side never truly settled from one to 11 thanks to near-constant evolution of some kind. At Liverpool, you could at least be certain that Jürgen Klopp would be there for the foreseeable future. An elite manager with his hand on the tiller, guiding the club through occasionally choppy waters.

Or at least you could be confident of the Reds retaining Klopp’s calming presence until he dropped his bombshell announcement that he was leaving at the end of the season. Everything was forever until it was no more. The uncertainty which pervades Liverpool now has an impact when assessing all news related to the club. Stories which previously would have demanded little attention now carry greater weight in what is already to some extent the post-Klopp era.

Take the BBC’s football gossip page, for instance, which today featured two stories related to the Reds. The first claimed the club has made contact with Xabi Alonso, the bookmakers’ favorite to take over from Klopp when he departs. Further down the page was a titbit from HITC, which stated: “Liverpool are monitoring Juventus and Italy forward Federico Chiesa, 26.” That's vague, and arguably not even news. A quick search reveals links between the Reds and the Italian dating back to at least 2021. If we assumed those stories were true then Liverpool would have been monitoring Chiesa for several years by now.

If it wasn't Xabi Alonso, this would be the other candidate to replace Klopp

A fundamental piece

Per Transfermarkt, Diaby is one of just nine players who have generated at least 22 goal contributions for the Spaniard, and he is ranked fourth among the group for goals and assists per 90 minutes. However, even if his former manager wanted to take him to Liverpool, Diaby is under contract at Villa Park until 2028. Chiesa, by contrast, will enter the final year of his deal this summer and would be far easier to secure for the next Reds manager. The Euro 2020 winner could make a perfect first signing for Alonso at Liverpool, without the need to raid Bayer Leverkusen. Whether he even gets the job remains to be seen, and even if he does, there’s no guarantee he would want to sign Chiesa, of course. But pondering the future of Liverpool now makes it easy to connect dots like these without stretching too far. Nothing is forever for the Reds any more.