The five best quotes from Xabi Alonso’s first interview as Chelsea FC manager
Xabi Alonso has touched down at Cobham to get his career as Chelsea boss underway, and has outlined his plans for his managerial tenure in a lengthy first interview.
Pre-season preparations are already well underway, with a first match of the summer against Tottenham in Australia just over three weeks out, but Alonso took some time out before taking his first training session to undertake a wide-ranging interview with the club’s in-house media team.
The Spaniard touched on a variety of subjects, from his plans for pre-season and debuting at Stamford Bridge to the source of his own passion for football.
Here, Standard Sport picks out the five best lines from Alonso’s first interview as Chelsea manager…
‘Chelsea are on the path to success’
Much has been made of Chelsea’s long-term project since Roman Abramovic sold the club to Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, with their high-turnover transfer policy struggling to yield results on pitch.
But Alonso says he sees no issues with the club’s long-term health, insisting he sees considerable potential in his squad.
“That we share a feeling we are doing things the right way and that we are on the right path to success. We know that success is a consequence of good work, of quality decisions, of the good culture that we want to build. That’s the beauty of such a complex but nice process with so many people involved. The potential of the team and the squad made me very excited.”
Xabi Alonso took his first Chelsea training session on Thursday
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‘Intrapersonal connection crucial to success’
Before taking his first pre-season training session, Alonso made sure to outline his goals for Chelsea’s summer.
A top priority for him will be to build ‘human connections’ to help his squad gel quickly and hit the ground running ahead of the Premier League campaign.
“The (facilities at Cobham are) great but you need to give it the soul. You need to give it purpose, you need to bring a good work, a good energy, positiveness, that we are in a nice place to wor,k, and now we have all the ingredients for that. (On Thursday) I will be with the guys and you start creating connection, the human connections, for them to feel good, and when you feel good normally you perform good.”
‘My players cannot hold anything back’
Alonso continued, outlining some non-negotiables he expects from his squad and saying he expects his players to leave it all on the pitch as Chelsea look to get back to winning ways.
Questions had been raised as to the togetherness of Chelsea’s squad last season after the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella publicly questioned the club’s direction in interviews, and Alonso called on his players to be intentional in building a strong culture.
“For me, there are football principles that are unnegotiable. To feel passion for what you do. In football you need to be willing to pay all the prices to compete on the highest level. So you can’t hold back anything. You need to give everything you have for the benefit of the team, and the team is always the most important thing.
“We need to create that culture. We want to share that belief that good things will come if we are together and we create this strength, this power that the club has. It has to come from us to bring this energy, but together we can achieve great things in the coming years. We have challenges ahead, but this is the beauty of the moment.”
Xabi Alonso’s first pre-season fixture is just three weeks away
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‘I need the team to feel my passion’
Given his father was a two-time La Liga champion, Alonso was raised in a passionate football household and carries that same passion into his coaching career.
The Spaniard is desperate for his Chelsea squad to match his energy, which he said inspired a constant desire to improve throughout his decorated playing career.
“I loved and lived for football, I was born and raised around football, so it is in my veins. That’s something I did as a player and now as a coach, and I want to transmit that to the team, I want to transmit that to the players, the hunger to be better, to be competitive, to feel that wherever we go we can win. I was doing this as a player and now I am enjoying doing that on the sidelines.”
‘Stamford Bridge debut is marked in my calendar’
It is not yet clear when Alonso will step out at Stamford Bridge for the first time, with his full pre-season programme set to take place in Asia and Oceania.
His debut could come when Brighton visit SW6 on August 30, or the week prior when Chelsea play their first Carabao Cup match. In any case, Alonso said he cannot wait to meet the fans.
“I will feel goosebumps for sure. Those days, they are special. When you are in the new home you want to perform hgood. So that day, it will be in the Carabao or against Brighton, but you want to have that feeling from the first day and that’s marked in our calendars.
“We will get ready for that but the stadum is, it can create this heat. It works both ways. We need to create that bond to feel that when we play at home, we are strong.”
