Xabi Alonso wants to sign ‘Europe’s most hidden secret’ following World Cup masterclass

Xabi Alonso has started in his role as new Chelsea manager and is looking ahead to the new season.

The 44-year-old has taken his first training session and can’t wait to develop a group of players he considers to be some of the best in the world.

Alonso must do more than just develop the current squad, though. The Spaniard will play a key role in the Blues’ summer transfer activity.

Several players, including Marc Cucurella, have already moved on, with the attention now turning back to incomings, and according to recent reports, Alonso has already made his feelings on one potential signing clear.

Xabi Alonso tells Chelsea to sign international goalkeeper

Even though the Blues have multiple areas of the pitch to address, goalkeeper might be one of the most important.

There are concerns over Robert Sanchez’s ability to play to Alonso’s style and back up Filip Jorgensen has asked to leave. That would leave the new Chelsea boss with Mike Penders as his best option, and it’s unrealistic to expect the young Belgian to immediately become the side’s number one.

Consequently, according to Correio da Manha (via Metro), Alonso has identified Porto’s Diogo Costa as his ideal goalkeeper signing this summer.

The Portuguese outlet claim the former Bayer Leverkusen manager has been a big fan of Costa for quite some time and is keen to bring him to the Premier League.

Costa has spent his entire career with Porto having been promoted from their youth academy back in 2019. He has made 246 senior appearances for the 31-time Portuguese champions and kept 108 clean sheets.

Diogo Costa’s impressive World Cup performances

According to data giants Sofascore, Portugal’s number one performed incredibly well during his country’s World Cup campaign.

Although the 2016 European champions were sent home by rivals Spain at the Last 16 stage, Costa can return to Porto with his held high.

The 26-year-old conceded just three goals in five tournament matches, making an impressive 19 saves in total.

Even though Robert Martinez has failed to meet expectations while in charge of Portugal, the 53-year-old has always been right about the nation’s number one.

Speaking about Costa after Portugal’s win over Slovenia in the 2014 Euros, Martinez said: “I think Portugal’s secret is Diogo Costa. Diogo Costa is the most hidden secret in European football and today he showed up.”

The Porto captain has four years left on his deal at Estadio do Dragao and is valued upwards of £40 million.

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