Bayern Munich’s honorary president, Uli Hoeness, admits it will not be easy to prise Xabi Alonso away from Bayer Leverkusen, claiming there is competition not just from Liverpool but also Real Madrid. Alonso is rated as one of Europe’s top young coaches, with Leverkusen unbeaten this season and heading towards their first Bundesliga title. He is the bookmakers’ favourite to replace Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool. Carlo Ancelotti’s future at Madrid appears secure with the team eight points clear in La Liga and the Italian signing a contract extension to 2026 in December. However, Hoeness credited them with an interest in Alonso. “He [Alonso] has proved that he can be a coach for the big time,” Hoeness told a panel at the Munich Trade Fair. “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.” The public comments made by the 72-year-old, who is also a supervisory board member at the Bavarian club, are unlikely to impress Bayern’s new director of sport, Max Eberl. On Wednesday, Eberl gave an interview to the German newspaper Bild in which he said he did not want to provoke Alonso headlines and insisted he had not spoken to any potential candidates, which numbered “more than four but not 40 names” on an “unusual” list of successors. “We have a list that we would like to work through in peace and have conversations in peace,” said Eberl. Liverpool’s attempts to find Klopp’s replacement are expected to accelerate after Wednesday’s appointment of a new sporting director, Richard Hughes, who has joined from Bournemouth.