14 May 2026 17:30 BST |<\/span> Xabi Alonso is considered the \u2018frontrunner\u2019 to become the new Chelsea manager, with talks said to be making \u2018positive progress\u2019 in recent days.<\/p>\n Alonso has been out of work since being sacked by Real Madrid in January and now leads Chelsea\u2019s shortlist, with the Blues themselves looking for a new manager after parting ways with Liam Rosenior last month.<\/p>\n The likes of Andoni Iraola and Marco Silva have also reportedly been contacted by Chelsea and they feature highly on the club\u2019s shortlist, thought to contain at least five candidates, but The Times<\/b><\/i> report that Alonso appears to be the \u2018standout candidate\u2019.<\/p>\n Initial contacts with Alonso and his representatives were \u2018received positively\u2019 even with Chelsea looking likely to miss out on qualifying for the Champions League next season.<\/p>\n However, Alonso is seeking assurances about the role, with Chelsea\u2019s BlueCo owners already looking for their sixth permanent manager since their takeover in 2022.<\/p>\n Chelsea\u2019s pursuit of Alonso will come as a blow to some around Liverpool who had hoped that the Spaniard would take over at Anfield this summer, however Arne Slot spoke this week that he is expecting to be in charge of the Reds next season.<\/b><\/p>\n Alonso is said to have considered Liverpool his ‘dream job’<\/b> but it is expected that Slot will remain in charge on Merseyside for the foreseeable future, with no change in manager expected this summer.<\/p>\n Consequently, Chelsea could have a free run at Alonso, especially considering Silva is in line for the Benfica job if Jose Mourinho moves to Real Madrid, while Iraola is in talks to join Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n Much will depend on Alonso\u2019s stance over taking over at Stamford Bridge, having been bruised by his sacking by Madrid just seven months into a three-year deal.<\/p>\n Chelsea\u2019s transfer policy has come under much scrutiny after their collapse this season and Alonso will want assurances that he will have a stronger say in transfers than any other manager under BlueCo.<\/p>\n Chelsea saw Enzo Maresca leave the club in January after a series of disagreements with the club\u2019s board in a similar fate to his predecessor Mauricio Pochettino in 2024.<\/p>\n Alonso is also likely to seek confidence that his future will not come into question at the first sign of turmoil like in Madrid, having seen Rosenior sacked after 106 days in charge despite being tied to a long-term contract and being publicly backed by Chelsea.<\/p>\n Build the 2026 FIFA World Cup: Inside LEGO\u2019s football-inspired collection<\/b><\/p>\n Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Carrick to stay, operation Mourinho, Chelsea manager race<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Man Utd chase Bellingham as \u20ac50m Chelsea demand revealed<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 14 May 2026 17:30 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Xabi Alonso is considered…<\/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-8441","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\/8441","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=8441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8441\/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=8441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n 4 min read <\/p>\n<\/source><\/source><\/picture>
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Chelsea set for free run at Alonso after Liverpool stick with Slot<\/h2>\n
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