{"id":9583,"date":"2026-05-17T08:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9583"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:08:29","slug":"chelsea-to-confirm-xabi-alonso-as-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9583","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea to confirm 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 16, 2026 19:57 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 to confirm Xabi Alonso as manager\" alt=\"Chelsea to confirm Xabi Alonso as manager\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Alonso set to become Chelsea boss<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Chelsea are on the verge of confirming <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Xabi Alonso<\/span><\/span>  as their next manager, according to The Telegraph.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The west London giants have had a frustrating calendar year, and they are currently winless in seven Premier League matches.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues faced Manchester City in the FA Cup final today but were disappointing again, losing 1-0 at Wembley.<\/p>\n<p>It is now reported that the Blues have moved quickly to secure a full agreement with Alonso after the FA Cup defeat.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso has been given the position of manager rather than head coach and will have some power over the club&#8217;s transfers.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea are planning to make at least three readymade signings this summer rather than pursuing young talents.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso could be formally confirmed as the new Blues boss in the next 24 hours and introduced to the fans on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea are scheduled to host Tottenham Hotspur in the league in midweek.<\/p>\n<p>Interim manager <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Calum McFarlane<\/span><\/span>  will stay in charge for the season.<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 16, 2026 19:57 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-9583","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\/9583","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=9583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9583\/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=9583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}