When Jurgen Klopp made the shock announcement in January that he would be leaving Liverpool in the summer, only one name played across the lips of the huge majority of supporters.
Xabi Alonso was the chosen one, a Champions League and FA Cup winner with Liverpool who had become Europe's hottest young coaching property by leading Bayer Leverkusen towards the Bundesliga and German Cup double in an unbeaten domestic season.
In the background, however, Alonso had made it known he would not be one half of what seemed to be a football marriage made in heaven, choosing instead to remain in Germany rather than take the road back to Anfield.