For Xabi Alonso, this is not just another Carabao Cup fourth round showdown. It is also a reminder of how quickly one summer move can reshape the story around a team, a coach and a player who used to work in the same dressing room.
On Wednesday evening, Chelsea are set to face Liverpool at Anfield, and Alonso made clear that Florian Wirtz is still very much on his mind. Wirtz moved to Liverpool for £116million in the summer of 2025 after becoming one of the defining players in Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen side, and the Chelsea head coach said that connection still matters when he looks at the matchup.
Alonso was direct about why Wirtz remains such an important figure in his own journey. He said that one of the main reasons he is in the opposing dugout against Liverpool is the time he spent with Wirtz at Bayer Leverkusen. That is a striking admission, but it also fits the evidence. Wirtz was central to Leverkusen's first Bundesliga title, and his influence under Alonso was never just about goals or assists. He was the player who helped make the system work.
Wirtz has already become part of the bigger Liverpool story
The early months at Liverpool were not seamless, but the source of the current optimism is that Wirtz has improved after an inconsistent start. That matters because expensive signings are often judged too quickly on raw output, when the better question is whether they are settling into the rhythm of a new team. In Wirtz's case, the answer appears to be moving in the right direction.
Alonso's comments also underline something else: the relationship between coach and player was never one-way. As he put it, Wirtz was a special player who helped him so much that he learned from him as well. That is not the usual language of a coach discussing a former midfielder, and it explains why the Liverpool move has become more than a transfer story. It is now part of Alonso's own professional arc.
There is, of course, a practical side to all of this. Alonso said that Wirtz is getting there, which suggests Liverpool are beginning to see the version of the player they paid for in the summer of 2025. Whether that translates immediately against Chelsea is another matter, but the match now carries an extra layer because of who Wirtz is and who once guided him.
Chelsea will also be without Joao Pedro because of a thigh injury, with Alonso saying he will be out for a few weeks. That is a significant absence in its own right, and it means Chelsea arrive at Anfield with one less attacking option in a game that already has plenty of narrative weight.
So the headline is not only that Liverpool and Chelsea are meeting in a high-profile cup tie. It is that Alonso's latest comments have turned Florian Wirtz into part of the pre-match argument again. The transfer may have happened in the summer, but the football relationship around it is still very much active.
