Phil Ball on Why Alonso Is Staying

For anyone with a passing interest in Spanish football, Phil Ball's articles are a must. He is knowledgable about the game there without coming over as being too pretentious or having insider information.

Yet, admiration of Ball as a writer have nothing to do with this post: a piece in the latest edition of the magazine When Saturday Comes' weekly e-mail roundup is the source of inspiration. As a resident of San Sebastian, and a supporter of the city's main team Real Sociedad, he has always been a huge fan of Xabi Alonso.

So too, apparently, is his son whose devotion to the player has also meant him starting to follow Liverpool. Or, at least, that is what transpires from Ball's recounting of a recent encounter with the Liverpool midfielder.

“July 14, 2100 hrs, San Sebastián, Spain. My wife is at the tennis club
playing padel – a strange game imported from Argentina that is taking the Basque
Country by storm. Between sets she phones to inform me that Xabi Alonso is
playing on the court next to her. He’s still on his hols, staying at his dad’s
just down the road from us. I tell my 12-year-old son, who grabs a thick
felt-tip and his Liverpool shirt from his bedroom, jumps on his bike and
high-tails it to the tennis club, some five minutes away, shirt flapping from
the handlebars. An hour later he returns, with shirt duly signed in Basque.
Above the illegible signature it reads ‘Harryenzat, besarkada bat’ which to the
uninitiated means ‘To Harry, with a hug’.

‘Did you speak to him in English?’ I ask my son. He tells me that he only
spoke in Basque to the great man. He also tells me that Alonso, apart from being
a half-decent footballer, is also a consummate padel player – which is going
some, since there can’t be too many places to practise on the Wirral. ‘So what
did you talk about?’ I persist. ‘I asked him where he was going next season.’
‘And what did he say?’ ‘He didn’t say anything. But I said to him “Liverpoolen
geratu eh!” (Stay at Liverpool, eh!)’ ‘What? You shouldn’t have said that. What
did he say?’ ‘He said “Noski” (Of course).’ So there you are. Juve might as well
stop the bidding. WSC exclusive – Xabi Alonso says he’s staying at Liverpool,
and he said that to my son outside the padel court in San Sebastián, which means
that it must be true.”

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