{"id":9060,"date":"2026-05-16T08:37:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:37:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9060"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:37:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:37:18","slug":"chelsea-squad-want-xabi-alonso-as-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9060","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea squad want Xabi Alonso as manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"content\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/NewsArticle\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<h6>News<span> \u00bb <\/span>Premier League news<span> \u00bb <\/span>Chelsea news<\/h6>\n<p class=\"articletimestamp\">May 14, 2026 19:24 GMT (UK), by <!-- Author Start -->Sri Aswin<!-- Author End -->\n<\/p>\n<h6>View Chelsea summer 2026 transfer targets<\/h6>\n<div style=\"float:right\">\n<figure>\n<p class=\"article_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/imghold\/largestXabi_2025.jpeg\" title=\"Chelsea squad want Xabi Alonso as manager\" alt=\"Chelsea squad want Xabi Alonso as manager\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Xabi to Chelsea?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong><span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Xabi Alonso<\/span><\/span>  has the complete backing from the Chelsea squad to become the club&#8217;s next head coach, according to The Telegraph.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The Blues parted ways with <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Liam Rosenior<\/span><\/span>  last month and have since been on the hunt for a new manager. They are taking their time to make a decision, but a final verdict could come before the season concludes.<\/p>\n<p>It is now reported that Alonso is a frontrunner for the managerial position and he has the support from Chelsea players as a whole. The former Liverpool midfielder has a winning track record, having guided Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title two seasons ago by going unbeaten.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, the squad believe he has the credentials for the vacancy and it remains to be seen whether the club&#8217;s hierarchy reach an agreement with the Spanish tactician. An announcement could be made in due course.<\/p>\n<p><span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Andoni Iraola<\/span><\/span>  of Bournemouth was also under consideration earlier this month, but the Blues&#8217; hierarchy are now leaning towards Alonso.<br \/><!-- Article End --><\/p>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- newadv --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\nvar js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)(0);\nif (d.getElementById(id)) return;\njs = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\njs.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\nfjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News \u00bb Premier League news \u00bb Chelsea news May 14, 2026 19:24 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9060","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\/9060","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=9060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}