Former Liverpool icon Fernando Torres is being tipped one day to become Liverpool manager, with the pressure not immediately off Arne Slot’s back in the Anfield dug-out.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has faced widespread scrutiny all season long, with Liverpool’s hangover from winning the Premier League during his debut campaign at the helm, rather alarming.
Indeed, come the end of the long, gruelling 2025/26 season, the Merseyside giants will be trophyless, with their faint hopes of lifting the Champions League gone, when they were humbled 4-0 on aggregate by Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter finals.
Thankfully, a top five spot in the Premier League looks to be somewhat secure, with Virgil Van Dijk’s last-minute winner against Everton gifting the Reds a sizeable seven-point cushion between themselves and Chelsea, occupying sixth spot.
Still, it cannot just be tossed to one side that Liverpool have lost 18 games overall this season, with Xabi Alonso‘s name continuing to circulate, as a potential Slot successor.
Could Alonso be handed the job?
It has long been in the air that Alonso will finally return to Anfield to take up the head coach reins if the board decides to move in a different direction.
Still a free agent manager, after being dismissed by Real Madrid earlier this year, the Spaniard was a much-loved figure on Merseyside when he was a reliable midfield battler in the first team ranks.
Picking up 14 goals and 18 assists across 143 appearances in the Premier League for the Reds, Alonso has since forged a managerial career that has been impressive, too, with a Bundesliga title lifted with Bayer Leverkusen, after steering the German side to 89 wins from 140 games in charge.
For the time being, though, the talk surrounding Alonso making a dramatic return to Anfield as Slot’s replacement has hushed, with journalist David Ornstein recently revealing that Liverpool’s intention, for the moment, is to stick by Slot, with the out-of-work manager not on their agenda.
With the ex-Feyenoord head coach speaking about summer transfer plans, as well, the Premier League title winner is clearly in it for the long haul.
Yet, that hasn’t stopped speculation suggesting that Liverpool might turn to a different club legend in Fernando Torres, down the line, to replace Slot, as the former potent striker on Merseyside is impressing during the early stages of his fledgling coaching career.
“Fernando Torres as Liverpool manager one day? Definitely” – Torres tipped to be Reds manager after Slot
While Torres would later struggle with his consistency in front of goal on the books of Chelsea in the Premier League, he is still fondly remembered to this day for being an electric goalscorer for Liverpool.
Indeed, the Spanish hotshot would go on to bag a hefty 81 goals for the Reds, across 142 appearances, with the door surely always open for their ex-number nine to return to Liverpool, in a coaching capacity.
With this former player route working wonders for the likes of Arsenal, as Mikel Arteta has turned the Gunners into near Premier League title-winning material, it could be a masterstroke approach here, with Torres currently in charge of Atletico Madrid’s B team.
Collecting 29 wins and 25 draws from 71 games in charge of the La Liga side’s B team, to date, his ex-Spain international teammate, Fernando Llorente, has begun to tip the retired marksman to be Liverpool manager, one day.
He said, when speaking to Hajper: “Fernando Torres as Liverpool manager one day? Definitely.
“He’s taken a different path to Cesc Fabregas; he has been patient and has preferred to start little by little with the youth team, gaining experience.
“I think Fernando will become a great coach because he had an incredible career, knows a lot about football and has surely been preparing for the right moment to make the jump.”
Fernando Torres: Coaching Record:
| Role | Season | Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses |
| Atletico Madrid B (manager) | 24/25 – 25/26 | 71 | 29 | 25 | 17 |
| Atletico Youth League (manager) | 22/23 – 23/24 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 4 seasons | 86 | 39 | 25 | 22 |
It remains to be seen when Torres will make that next jump to senior management, but if he continues to impress behind the scenes at the La Liga giants, it wouldn’t be the wildest shout to suggest he could be a viable successor to Slot when the powers that be at Liverpool do decide to move on from the 47-year-old.
