It may only be his first season in senior management, but former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso is already hot property.
When he took over at Bayer Leverkusen in the autumn, the team was sitting second from bottom in the relegation zone, with one win, two draws and six defeats from eight games.
It had been knocked out of the DFP-Pokal at the first hurdle by third-tier Elversberg, and lost two of its first three Champions League group games.
READ MORE: Liverpool faces Mason Mount dilemma as new transfer rival emerges amid 'massive' Chelsea decision
READ MORE: Liverpool could already have a $37m advantage in place as Jurrien Timber confirms transfer plans
Alonso wasn't able to progress from Group B, but he did at least salvage third place, securing a spot in the next phase of the Europa League instead.
And after advancing past Monaco in the play-off round, he's overseen victories against Ferencváros and Union Saint-Gilloise to set-up a semi-final match-up with José Mourinho's Roma.
In the league, his efforts have been even more impressive. Alonso has lifted Leverkusen to sixth place in the table with four games remaining, having picked up 43 points from his 22 matches.
Only two teams — the title contenders Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich — have amassed more in that period.
While the Werkself are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League through the domestic route, they could yet do so by winning Europe's secondary club competition.
Inevitably, this magnificent coaching performance has sparked talk that Alonso, who became a European champion with Liverpool in 2005, could one day manage the Reds.
With Jürgen Klopp's contract due to expire in 2026, might he be the man to take over?
When assessing potential candidates, we focus predominantly on stylistic and cultural compatibility, but too often overlook timing.
First thing's first, a manager must be available when a vacancy arises.
Take Alonso — if he keeps doing what he's doing at Leverkusen, then a truly elite European club will surely poach him in the not-too-distant future, and he may be off the market come 2026.
And then there's the importance of peaking at the right moment. Your stock needs to be high when opportunities open up, because if you're struggling, or if you've just been sacked, then that will probably rule you out of a job you might have walked into a year or two previously.
The former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers illustrates this point nicely. The Athletic reported last year that Rodgers had 'influential admirers' at four of the league's 'big six' clubs — Spurs, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal.
This was after he'd led Leicester to back-to-back fifth places, and won the FA Cup, rebuilding his reputation in England after the sorry end to his Anfield tenure.
If you enjoyed this piece, you'll love our Liverpool.com newsletter — every weekday, we send exclusive, bonus content only to people signed up for our mailing list!
Our newsletter subscribers get a rundown Monday to Friday from one of the best Liverpool FC writers — straight to your inbox, and completely for free.
Wherever you are in the world — in the US, the UK or further afield — you don't want to miss out.
Sign up to the Liverpool.com newsletter here — it only takes a few seconds!
But in 2022/23, things unraveled for the Northern Irishman, culminating in his dismissal at the start of April when Leicester dropped into the bottom three.
Just a week earlier, Spurs had sacked Antonio Conte, but Rodgers hasn't come into consideration as a potential replacement because those former admirers aren't going to be looking at him quite so fondly anymore.
This is why it's so hard to predict who might follow Klopp, three years before his likely exit. We simply have no idea what the managerial landscape will look like in 2026. The only certainty is uncertainty.
Exciting new coaches will emerge in that period, just as Alonso has this season, while others stars will fade.
Liverpool will already have a shortlist of managers that it is monitoring but it will also recognize that the environment is highly volatile.
There's no guarantee that the next manager in the Anfield dugout will be the best man for the job. Instead, there will be an inescapable element of fortune in any appointment Liverpool makes.
