{"id":8391,"date":"2026-05-14T14:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=8391"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:55:07","slug":"heres-why-chelsea-should-hire-xabi-alonso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=8391","title":{"rendered":"Here&#8217;s Why Chelsea Should Hire Xabi Alonso"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main \">\n                <\/aside>\n<p>            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><\/p>\n<p>Chelsea are working hard to make Xabi Alonso their next head coach, and it is not difficult to understand the rationale behind the pursuit. The Blues parted company with Liam Rosenior and are understood to be closing in on the 44-year-old Basque tactician as the man to bring some much-needed stability to a turbulent Stamford Bridge dugout.<\/p>\n<p>Now, reports have named Alonso the \u201cmain target\u201d for the Blues this summer, ahead of former favourite Andoni Iraola in the club\u2019s thinking. <span style=\"font-size: 14px;letter-spacing: 0px\">The ex-Real Madrid and Liverpool midfielder masterminded one of the most remarkable seasons in modern European football at Bayer Leverkusen.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;letter-spacing: 0px\">He guided Die Werkself to an unbeaten Bundesliga title and DFB-Pokal double in 2023-24, before joining Real Madrid. However, he departed the Spanish capital giants by mutual consent in January 2026 following a Supercopa final loss to Barcelona. That brief Bernabeu chapter apart, his stock as one of Europe\u2019s brightest coaching talents remains largely intact.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In tactical terms, Alonso is almost the perfect foil for the young core the next Stamford Bridge boss inherits. His possession-heavy, positionally fluid approach, built around 3-4-2-1 and 4-2-3-1 systems, would suit the technical profiles of Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez beautifully. There is also a strong sense that his footballing philosophy could finally unleash the squad\u2019s untapped potential.<\/p>\n<p>The tactics behind it are the biggest selling point for him as a candidate. Unlike Rosenior, and to a much greater extent than Enzo Maresca, Alonso would arrive with immediate respect in the dressing room. He has an authority none of the other shortlisted candidates can match, as a former elite player, and that pulling power would help attract elite targets to west London.<\/p>\n<h2>Liverpool\u2019s Stance Gives Chelsea a Clear Run at Their No.1 Target<\/h2>\n<p>Liverpool, where Alonso\u2019s dream job is widely thought to be waiting, has always been the biggest hurdle for Chelsea to get this deal over the line. He was a strong contender to take the reins at Anfield in 2024 before Fenway Sports Group opted for Arne Slot over him. Reports now suggest that this scenario will not materialise at all this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool are not considering Xabi Alonso, according to reports out of Anfield, with the club fully intending to go into the new season with Slot as their head coach. That position effectively gives the Blues a free run at their choice of candidate. It doesn\u2019t look like FSG will pull the trigger on the Dutchman, meaning Chelsea can continue their advances without the fear of late Merseyside competition.<\/p>\n<p>Ben Jacobs has confirmed that positive talks have already taken place between the Blues and Alonso, with the World Cup serving as Chelsea\u2019s loose deadline to finalise an appointment. And the only question remaining in the saga is whether Basque goes all in now or waits for a late Anfield move.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main \">\n                <\/aside>\n<p>            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47-->\n\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea are working hard to make Xabi Alonso their next head coach, and it is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8391","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\/8391","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=8391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}