17 May 2026 17:06 BST |<\/span> Xabi Alonso has reportedly made his first transfer demand to Chelsea after being appointed their new manager, with his sights set on solving a major long-term problem.<\/p>\n Alonso was announced as Chelsea\u2019s new manager on Sunday and signed a four-year deal, with a belief that the 44-year-old will be given more say in transfers than any other previous boss in the BlueCo regime.<\/p>\n In particular, the Daily Mail have alleged that Chelsea want to sign \u2018up to three ready-made players\u2019 and sell those they consider surplus to requirements, with Alonso at the heart of those decisions.<\/p>\n And one of those \u2018ready-made\u2019 players could be in goal, where The Sun<\/b><\/i> report that Chelsea are \u2018preparing\u2019 a bid to sign Robin Roefs from Sunderland after an impressive debut campaign.<\/p>\n The Dutchman is said to be valued at \u00a350 million (\u20ac57.3m) and would represent a long-term replacement for Robert Sanchez, who has seemingly failed to convince Chelsea of his credentials after three inconsistent seasons at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n Reports in Italy<\/b><\/i> have also claimed that Chelsea could revive their interest in Milan shotstopper Mike Maignan after failing to sign him last summer, suggesting that a goalkeeper could indeed be Alonso\u2019s top priority going into his new job.<\/p>\n Chelsea have often rotated between Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen in goal this season but neither goalkeeper has proven to be a standout option and it is likely that at least one is sold this summer.<\/p>\n The Blues also have youngster Mike Penders returning from his loan at affiliate club Strasbourg, having been touted by former boss Liam Rosenior as the long-term answer to Chelsea\u2019s goalkeeper struggles.<\/b><\/p>\n While it remains to be seen how the club handles Penders\u2019 return, the links to Roefs and Maignan suggests that Alonso may prefer a more proven option in goal in order for Chelsea to move away from their policy of investing in raw youngsters.<\/p>\n At more than \u20ac50m, a move for Roefs would be surprising, however Maignan could emerge as an option despite signing a new five-year contract in January.<\/p>\n Chelsea have held a long-term interest in Maignan and tried to sign him last summer before negotiations with Milan collapsed but a move could be explored this year if Alonso believes the Frenchman to be the right solution in goal.<\/p>\n Build The FIFA World Cup 2026\u2122: LEGO\u00a9 releases stunning football-inspired collection<\/b><\/p>\n Booed at the Bernabeu and sniping at Arbeloa: What comes next for Kylian Mbappe?<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Man Utd and Chelsea set to battle to sign breakout La Liga forward<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 17 May 2026 17:06 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Xabi Alonso has reportedly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n 4 min read <\/p>\n<\/source><\/source><\/picture>
<\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Alonso pushing for experience at Chelsea with goalkeeper shakeup planned<\/h2>\n
<\/source><\/source><\/picture>
Related stories:<\/h2>\n
The FootballTransfers app<\/h2>\n