{"id":2821,"date":"2026-05-01T14:35:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=2821"},"modified":"2026-05-01T14:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:35:33","slug":"xabi-alonso-among-3-candidates-being-discussed-by-chelsea-as-they-look-to-appoint-a-new-head-coach-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=2821","title":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso among 3 candidates being discussed by Chelsea as they look to appoint a new head coach: Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5160654\" data-slug-id=\"2774899\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chelsea have reportedly shortlisted former Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso as one of three managers they will target this summer. The Spaniard is a key coach they see as the ideal replacement for Liam Rosenior.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues sacked Rosenior earlier this month following a poor run of form. The Englishman had just one win in his last eight matches across all competitions, while losing all the other games.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>According to Sky Sports&#8217; Kaveh Solhekol, Alonso is among the candidates being considered by the club. The former Real Madrid manager is without a club after leaving the Spanish side in January.<\/p>\n<p>He has been linked with Liverpool, but the Reds are currently not planning to part ways with Arne Slot. The former Bayer Leverkusen coach is keen to work in the Premier League and sees the Stamford Bridge job as an ideal opportunity.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>Apart from Alonso, the Blues also have Andoni Iraola in the running for the job. The Spaniard is set to become a free agent this summer after running down his contract at AFC Bournemouth.<\/p>\n<p>He was linked with a move to Athletic Bilbao, but the manager is keen on staying in the Premier League. Crystal Palace are also keeping tabs on the manager, as Oliver Glasner is leaving at the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Fulham manager Marco Silva is also said to be in the running for the Stamford Bridge job this summer.<\/p>\n<h2>John Terry worried about Chelsea<\/h2>\n<p>Chelsea legend John Terry has admitted he is worried about the direction of the club. He questioned if any top manager would be interested in taking over at the club after the recent months and said on his TikTok account:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I sit here worrying tonight about what is going to happen with our football club. Looking at us needing a manager after the weekend, I&#8217;m not sure when ownership are going to make a decision and bring a new manager in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Is a real top manager going to come to Chelsea Football Club at the moment in the position we are in? Can&#8217;t buy players, looking like we are going to have to sell potentially and that will be our best players, which is always tough. We will not be playing in European football, I hope I am wrong.&#8221; (via ESPN)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Chelsea have Calum McFarlane as the interim manager at the club for the rest of the season. He won the first match against Leeds United, helping the club reach the FA Cup final.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Sripad<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea have reportedly shortlisted former Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso as one of three managers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2821","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\/2821","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=2821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}