The German defender wrote some beautiful words about Alonso in The Player’s Tribune
In a heartfelt piece for The Players’ Tribune, Bayer Leverkusen — and soon to be Bayern Munich — defender Jonathan Tah opened up about his experience playing under manager Xabi Alonso — and his words paint a portrait not just of a coach, but of a man who changed his career.
“Xabi has a natural aura… it’s hard to even say what it is,” Tah writes. “But you can tell from the way he speaks and looks you in the eyes. Such sincerity is rare in football. You know what he did as a player, but it’s even more about how he treats you as a person. He inspires absolute respect.”
From the moment Alonso arrived at Leverkusen in 2022, there was a quiet buzz among the players. He was still new to coaching, but his legacy as a player preceded him. Tah remembers the early whispers and excitement when Alonso was first linked with the club. But it didn’t take long for the dressing room to realize that this wasn’t just a big name stepping in. Alonso still had it — technically, tactically, even physically.
“As soon as he arrived, we immediately realised that he could still play for us,” Tah recalls. “There was an exercise where we had to throw long balls behind the defence to our full-backs, and he suddenly stopped me. ‘No, Jona, not like that.’”
What came next was a masterclass. Alonso took the ball, turned, and delivered a diagonal pass with such precision and weight that it stunned the group.
“I honestly thought that I’d just played a pretty good pass, but he was like, “The ball has to be …… sharper.”
I was like, “What do you mean?”
He tried to explain, but then he said, “Here, give me the ball.”
He took a touch, turned and struck a diagonal cross that floated across to the other side, straight as an arrow. The ball landed on the shoe of one of our wingbacks, who didn’t even have to slow down to control it. Any amateur could have brought it down.
Xabi turned to us.
“ ….. that’s what I mean by sharper.”
I was like, You have to be joking.
Even the sound the ball makes when he strikes it is different. Ping. You could turn away, listen to the ball and know it’s Xabi.
I turned to my teammates and went, “How am I going to do that?”
And everyone just started laughing. None of us could do what Xabi did. “
Jonathan Tah speaking about Xabi Alonso in training is good. (@PlayersTribune) pic.twitter.com/94ppKsg5m9
— Managing Madrid (@managingmadrid) May 30, 2025
Yet for all his elegance and footballing IQ, it was Alonso’s emotional intelligence that guided Tah. At a time when his future was uncertain, when transfer rumors swirled and contract talks loomed, Alonso gave him clarity and security.
“He didn’t speak to me as a legend. He just spoke to me as a person,” Tah writes. “He said, ‘All the transfer talk, all the talk about your contract… Forget about that! You’re here right now, and as long as you’re here, I’ll support you.’ Hearing that from him… yeah, I got emotional. But no, he’s Xabi. He treated me like family.”
Alonso’s presence wasn’t just felt in tactical sessions or team talks. He would physically insert himself into passing drills — not as a coach shouting from the sidelines, but as a silent participant, subtly demonstrating movements and passing angles as if he still wore the kit.
“I don’t think Xabi has fully gotten used to training. Deep down, he’s still a player,” Tah says. “You’d see Xabi out of the corner of your eye, opening his body, ready for the pass, even if he was 15 metres away.”
What made Alonso different, Tah explains, wasn’t just his football genius, but his genuine investment in his players. He didn’t dictate from above — he connected. He empowered. He made them feel needed.
“I remember one of the first sessions we had with him, we were warming up, and he called me,” Tah recalls. “You never know what a new manager will think of you… But he said to me: ‘I’m new here and, as a leader in the dressing room, I need you. I need you to push the lads, to transmit what I want from the team.’”
That conversation changed everything for Tah. It wasn’t about tactics or formations. It was about trust.
“When you see that you can make him so happy, you become happy too. His passion is crazy. I owe a lot to Xabi, because he made me feel so important.”
