{"id":7141,"date":"2026-05-11T09:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=7141"},"modified":"2026-05-11T09:04:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T09:04:47","slug":"chelsea-hold-positive-talks-with-xabi-alonso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=7141","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea hold &#8216;positive&#8217; talks with Xabi Alonso"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>                                            10 May 2026 19:01 BST                                                                                            <span class=\"article-publish-date__separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n                                                4 min read                                                                                    <\/p>\n<figure class=\"large-img\">\n                                                <picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/d1dfd2e8-20f8-4f16-8dfc-d5c6da936200\/w=1200,h=675,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/d1dfd2e8-20f8-4f16-8dfc-d5c6da936200\/w=640,h=360,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-image-size=\"retina\" class=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" alt=\"Xabi Alonso, Chelsea\" src=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/d1dfd2e8-20f8-4f16-8dfc-d5c6da936200\/w=1200,h=675,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto,q=95\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption><figcaption>\u00a9 IMAGO <\/figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<figure class=\"author-thumb\">\n                                                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-image-size=\"not_specified\" class=\"\" width=\"112\" height=\"112\" alt=\"Cameron Smith\" src=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/footballcritic\/miatgxl3mmf30nktvbwt\/w=112,h=112,quality=75,fit=cover,format=auto\"\/>                                                    <\/figure>\n<div class=\"article-author-info\">\n<div class=\"article-author-name\">\n<p>                                                        Cameron Smith<br \/>\n                                                                                                                    <span class=\"article-author-separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n                                                            <span>Digital Content Producer<\/span>\n                                                                                                            <\/div>\n<p class=\"article-author-desc\">\n<p>                                                        Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020                                                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Chelsea have reportedly held \u201cpositive\u201d talks with Xabi Alonso as they continue their pursuit of a new permanent head coach.<\/p>\n<p><center class=\"p-1 light-grey-bg\">Article continues under the video<\/center> <\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard has been earmarked as one of Chelsea\u2019s preferred candidates to become their next manager following the sacking of Liam Rosenior last month, although there have been doubts over whether he will accept a move to Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>Four different managers have been sacked by Chelsea since the arrival of BlueCo as their new owners and it remains to be seen if Alonso is open to joining such an environment, especially considering there are questions over the long-term future of Arne Slot as his former club Liverpool.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this, Alonso features prominently on Chelsea\u2019s wishlist, alongside the likes of Andoni Iraola, Marco Silva and Cesc Fabregas, and the west London giants have now engaged in encouraging discussions with the 44-year-old, as per Nicolo Schira.<\/p>\n<p>The transfer expert posted on <b>X<\/b>: \u201cPositive first talks this week between Chelsea and Xabi Alonso, who could become the new CFC\u2019s manager. The Spanish coach has given his availability for a long term project and contract. In Blues\u2019 short list there are still other candidates. Reflections Underway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alonso left Real Madrid by mutual consent in January, but he won 24 of his 34 matches in charge of Los Blancos and having guided Bayer Leverkusen to their first ever Bundesliga title without losing a match in 2023-24, he remains one of the most highly rated young coaches in European football.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-md-12 p-0 d-flex image-container\">\n<figure class=\"article-image\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/34bb056c-becb-4725-b842-c14523386600\/w=1200,h=674,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 960px)\"><source srcset=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/34bb056c-becb-4725-b842-c14523386600\/w=640,h=359,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-image-size=\"retina\" class=\"lazyload\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Xabi Alonso is wanted by Chelsea\" src=\"https:\/\/static.footballtransfers.com\/images\/cf\/image\/upload\/34bb056c-becb-4725-b842-c14523386600\/w=750,h=422,quality=95,fit=cover,format=auto,q=95\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption>\u00a9 IMAGO &#8211; Xabi Alonso is wanted by Chelsea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Chelsea next manager odds<\/h2>\n<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alonso is currently the bookies\u2019 favourite to become the next Chelsea manager, with odds of roughly 2\/1.<\/p>\n<p>Former Blues defender Filipe Luis, who was Flamengo boss until earlier this year, is second in the running, while the aforementioned Iraola and Silva are also regarded as strong candidates, with both currently set to be on the market this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona legend Xavi is also seen as a possible contender for the job and Frank Lampard continues to be linked after guiding Coventry City to the Championship title.<\/p>\n<h2>Related stories:<\/h2>\n<p><b class=\"arrowed\">Chelsea\u2019s 10 biggest transfer sale mistakes<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b class=\"arrowed\">Chelsea Transfer News Today: \u20ac46m Nwaneri bid as wonderkid chooses his next club<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b class=\"arrowed\">Transfer Rumours: Man Utd promise Tonali offer as Liverpool bid laughed off<\/b><\/p>\n<h2>  The FootballTransfers app <\/h2>\n<p>Check out FootballTransfers&#8217; new app for all of football&#8217;s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n<p>The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10 May 2026 19:01 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith | Digital&#8230;<\/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-7141","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\/7141","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=7141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141\/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=7141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}