{"id":17428,"date":"2026-07-15T00:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17428"},"modified":"2026-07-15T00:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T00:52:32","slug":"xabi-alonso-reaffirms-he-wants-enzo-fernandez-at-chelsea-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=17428","title":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso reaffirms he wants Enzo Fernandez at Chelsea &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Xabi Alonso has confirmed that he wants Enzo Fernandez to remain at Chelsea following private talks with the Argentina midfielder.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fern\u00e1ndez has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge this summer and is understood to be open to considering his options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Real Madrid had been presented as a possible destination. However, the Spanish club recently denied that it was pursuing the 25-year-old, while Chelsea reportedly value him at around \u00a3120m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alonso was asked directly whether he wanted Fern\u00e1ndez to stay during his first major press conference as Chelsea head coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Spaniard also confirmed that he had spoken with Fern\u00e1ndez but refused to disclose the details of their conversation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have spoken,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cBut, as you can understand, what we said will remain private.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Xabi Alonso on Enzo Fernandez&#8217;s future. &#8220;We have spoken. As you can understand, what was said remains private.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Do you want to keep him? &#8220;Yeah. Yeah.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MHbIqbzk9O\">pic.twitter.com\/MHbIqbzk9O<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 13, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fern\u00e1ndez remains central to Alonso\u2019s midfield plans<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alonso\u2019s response gives Chelsea\u2019s position greater clarity before Fern\u00e1ndez returns from the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Argentina international has been preparing to face England in the semi-finals and has not yet trained under the new head coach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ReadChelsea previously examined how Alonso\u2019s first public comments placed Fern\u00e1ndez at the centre of his early plans. His latest answer strengthens the expectation that Chelsea will resist offers below their valuation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s importance has also increased following Andrey Santos\u2019 \u00a350m move to Manchester United. Losing both midfielders in the same window would leave Alonso with another significant recruitment job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The manager also confirmed Nicolas Jackson will join Chelsea\u2019s pre-season tour of Australia and Asia. Alejandro Garnacho, meanwhile, remains away from first-team training while the club works towards a possible sale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">talkSPORT\u2019s report on Alonso\u2019s press conference says the coach is looking forward to working with Jackson but acknowledged outside interest in Garnacho.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s position appears different. Alonso has given Chelsea\u2019s record signing a direct public endorsement before their work together begins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xabi Alonso has confirmed that he wants Enzo Fernandez to remain at Chelsea following private&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17428","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\/17428","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=17428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}