Revealed! The 3 Liverpool players that would benefit most from Xabi Alonso's appointment

If Xabi Alonso is to take over at his former club Liverpool this summer, there are three players who could benefit more than others.

Bayer Leverkusen's dazzling unbeaten campaign has been one of the stories of the season and there have been many standout performances. Three players who have been integral are attacker Florian Wirtz, midfielder Exequiel Palacios and powerful forward Victor Boniface.

For Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp has also overseen a terrific season thus far and there have been many strong showings across the board. With Klopp departing in the summer and Alonso among the frontrunners to take over, a statistical analysis has shown that three Liverpool players match the qualities displayed by the three aforementioned Leverkusen players - and it could be a sign for the future and a hint at who Alonso could favour. Similar data profiles on the players come from DataMB, who have identified Darwin Nunez, Harvey Elliott and Alexis Mac Allister as three players who could match the Leverkusen trio.

Starting with Boniface and Nunez, both are powerful and physical strikers capable of disrupting defences as we have seen this season. The Nigerian has been out of action since January but had managed 16 goals and eight assists in 24 games at that point while Nunez has produced 17 goals and 14 assists in 42 games. As per the data, Boniface has him beat across all the major metrics albeit playing in a weaker league overall but the main similarity is that both like to run in behind and are extremely direct as central strikers which should give him the edge over Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.

In midfield, Palacios and Mac Allister are both international teammates and are very similar in their style of play. There's only two CM difference in their height, Mac Allister has one more goal in all competitions (same assists) and both are adept at tackling and passing forward - and Alonso would no doubt champion the Argentine in his midfield.

Lastly, the most exciting comparison is Wirtz and Elliott. It must be said that Wirtz operates far further up the pitch than Elliott does, tasked with creating and scoring as he has registered 11 goals and 17 assists for Alonso this season. While Elliott plays in a deeper role, is more involved in the build-up and has a higher defensive output than the talented German.

Interestingly, Elliott's key passes are as good as anyone in the Premier League and his return of three goals and eight assists are his best return so far suggesting he could benefit from playing further forward. This comparison, however, the furthest apart in terms of output but there's no doubting Elliott's improvements over the course of the season.

Alonso would bring a new approach compared to Klopp should he join in the summer but it is likely he will look to those three players to fill the profiles to help get his system underway at Anfield.