Jamie Gittens says he is part of Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea plans
Asked directly whether he had been informed he was part of Alonso’s squad plans, Gittens replied simply: “Yeah.” He continued: “He just wants me to keep being positive, to keep taking on players, to keep creating chances and to keep pushing myself to the maximum.”
Gittens joined Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund in a £52 million deal last summer but struggled to make a major impact in his first season at Stamford Bridge, a campaign that saw the club go through three different managers. Enzo Maresca left in January before his successor, Liam Rosenior, was sacked a little over three months later, with Chelsea eventually finishing 10th in the Premier League and missing out on European football entirely.
The winger explained why the squad has taken to Alonso so readily, pointing to his standing as a player as much as his methods as a coach.
“He was a world-class midfielder,” Gittens said of Alonso’s career at Real Madrid and Liverpool, among other clubs, adding that facing his Bayer Leverkusen side while playing in Germany had been “really hard.” Alonso won the Bundesliga title and German Cup in his first full season in charge of Leverkusen.
“They were really a team,” Gittens said.
Team cohesion was something Chelsea lacked last season, but Gittens is confident that new arrivals such as British transfer record signing Morgan Rogers, who he played alongside in Manchester City’s academy, “will raise the bar” as the club aims to “win everything” again.
Gittens is also back on track physically after a difficult end to last season, having scored in Alonso’s first two behind-closed-doors matches against EFL clubs Crawley and Bromley following a hamstring injury in January that ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign.
He says he is now “90% fit” after a holiday training camp in Portugal and Spain.
“It has been hard because this was the first muscle injury I’ve had. I’m feeling much better, the hamstrings are good,” he said. “I want to succeed here. I need to show people what I can do. I’ve shown small glimpses, I would say, but this season will be a good season.”
Alonso has already made an early impression on the squad since replacing Rosenior in June, with Gittens’ comments echoing a wider sense of optimism around Stamford Bridge as pre-season progresses. The Blues face stiff competition from Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool for next season’s title, and are not expected to be genuine contenders in Alonso’s first campaign in charge, but the arrivals of Rogers, Marco Palestra and Geovany Quenda have raised expectations regardless.
For Gittens, a fit and settled start to the season represents a chance to establish himself as a regular under a manager the squad has quickly come to respect.
