Former Real Madrid boss Bernd Schuster has urged Xabi Alonso to be cautious with making his next step in management amid interest from Liverpool and Bayern Munich.

Alonso is on the verge of securing Bayer Leverkusen their first ever Bundesliga title after moving ten points clear of Bayern in the standings over the weekend, while they are also the last remaining side unbeaten across all competitions in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

His work at the BayArena has not gone unnoticed. 90min understands he leads Liverpool’s seven-man shortlist to succeed Jurgen Klopp this summer, while Bayern are also eyeing him as a replacement for the departing Thomas Tuchel. There is a further possibility that Alonso stays at Leverkusen before moving to another of his former clubs in Real Madrid sometime in the future.

Schuster spent a year in charge of Madrid from 2007 to 2008 following an impressive stint in La Liga with Getafe, and he has warned Alonso of the pitfalls of moving to a major club too early in his managerial career.

“Xabi’s situation reminds me of a similar situation I was in a few years ago,” Schuster told SportBILD.

“Back then, I coached my team Getafe into the European Cup [UEFA Cup] and then went to Real Madrid. Afterwards I thought to myself that I would have liked to have played with Getafe as a smaller club in the European Cup.

“This was the first time in Europe for this club in its history and would therefore have been a very nice story. So, it’s hard to decide.

“I would understand Xabi in every decision he makes. But what I can say for sure is that sometimes you have to be careful not to want everything too quickly.

“As a young coach you still have a lot to learn. And if, like Xabi, you already have your own team that he has strongly brought together and developed, it is also a really interesting task to go one step further with this team.”