{"id":22566,"date":"2026-07-29T09:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=22566"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T09:23:25","slug":"xabi-alonso-plays-down-welbeck-and-henderson-moves-after-chelsea-win-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=22566","title":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso plays down Welbeck and Henderson moves after Chelsea win | Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Xabi Alonso refused to confirm Chelsea are interested in signing the veterans Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson after his first game in charge of the team, a 6-4 pre-season victory against Western Sydney Wanderers on Tuesday, but said he was looking to build a squad that had \u201cproper balance\u201d.<\/p>\n
Chelsea are understood to be in talks over a surprise move to sign the 35-year-old Welbeck from Brighton, with the club also reportedly interested in signing the 36-year-old Henderson from Brentford. The links to two Premier League stalwarts reflects a revised transfer strategy under Alonso, with Chelsea seeking to recruit more experienced players into their squad as opposed to focused solely on signing young players, often tying them to lengthy contracts.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure that from today to the last day of the transfer (window) there will be a lot of links, a lot of rumours, so to be commenting on all of them, it\u2019s going to be a hard task,\u201d Alonso said. \u201cBut for sure, we need proper balance in terms of qualities, in terms of positions, in terms of balance. We want to have a complete squad and we want to make a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new Chelsea manager fielded a youthful side at the Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush, with Liam Delap and Tosin Adarabioyo the most experienced members of the starting lineup. Alonso waited until the 63rd minute to bring on a host of star names, including Cole Palmer and Jo\u00e3o Pedro. The Brazilian forward, who missed out on a place in Carlo Ancelotti\u2019s World Cup squad, made a significant impact off the bench, scoring a hat-trick in just nine minutes as Chelsea took control of the game against their A-League opponents.<\/p>\n
Jo\u00e3o Pedro scored 20 goals during an excellent debut season for Chelsea, having arrived from Brighton for \u00a360m 12 months ago, and asked about the player\u2019s mood before the upcoming campaign, Alonso said: \u201cVery hungry. Jo\u00e3o is really, really determined to have a great season. He wants to, after a great last year, when he scored many goals. He wants to keep scoring more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n
A number of Chelsea\u2019s youngsters showed plenty of promise, with the 17-year-old Dastan Satpayev opening the scoring after six minutes. The Kazakh forward is yet to sign officially for the club and is playing in pre-season as a triallist. His opening goal came from a defence-splitting pass from another teenager, Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, with Satpayev smashing the ball home at the near post.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s back four struggled in the first half against a lively Wanderers frontline and their reported new set-piece coach, Aston Villa\u2019s Austin MacPhee, will have plenty to work on judging by the ease with which Brandon Borrello and Anthony Pantazopoulos won headers from a corner as the latter scored at the back post for the hosts.<\/p>\n