Xabi Alonso will officially take charge of Chelsea at the end of the season (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Xabi Alonso will be looking to lead a productive summer window at Chelsea as he prepares for his first season managing in the Premier League. The former Liverpool midfielder has signed a four-year deal at Stamford Bridge to replace Liam Rosenior, who was sacked in April. Interestingly, Alonso has been given the job title of manager rather than head coach and is expected to be heavily involved in the club’s summer recruitment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In recent years, Chelsea have shown they are not afraid to splash huge amounts of cash when it comes to the transfer market. There is nothing to suggest that approach will change in the summer as they look to put their disappointing 2025\/26 campaign behind them. Reports have claimed that work is already starting behind the scenes, with Alonso eager to mould the squad in his image.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here’s a look at who the Spaniard could look to sign before the start of next season…<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chelsea came very close to signing Maignan last summer, only for the deal to fall through because the Blues were unwilling to meet AC Milan’s asking price of \u00a325million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, it’s been reported by Gazzetta dello Sport that the move could be resurrected by Alonso, who is reportedly keen to bring in a first-class goalkeeper.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgenson haven’t exactly set the world alight between the sticks, so it would make sense for Chelsea to pursue a more dependable option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chelsea need to strengthen in defence and they could do far worse than to raid Brighton for the services of Van Hecke, who boasts all the qualities of the quintessential modern defender.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He’s good with the ball at his feet and isn’t afraid to carry out the dirty work, either, while his imposing frame makes him a menace in set-piece situations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The west Londoners have done plenty of business with Brighton over the years and talkSPORT have claimed that around \u00a350m would be enough to seal the deal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It certainly wouldn’t hurt to sign another central defender and Senesi would provide the best value, given that he will be available for free.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Reports have claimed that Tottenham are pursuing a move for the Bournemouth centre-back, but the prospect of working under Alonso at Chelsea would probably be a more enticing option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n At the age of 29, he wouldn’t really fit the club’s transfer model of signing young talent, but the addition of his experience and proven quality on a free transfer would hardly be a bad thing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Alejandro Grimaldo was a key man under Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen (Image: Getty)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Alonso may also decide to go after players he already knows well, with Grimaldo among those who could make an impact at Chelsea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As well as being a key member of the Bayer Leverkusen side that won the Bundesliga two seasons ago, the Spaniard is also a free-kick specialist, which could earn the Blues a few crucial points over the course of the campaign.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He is rumoured to be available for just \u00a313m as he enters the final year of his contract, making him a low-risk and potentially high-reward summer signing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chelsea could end up spending the bulk of their budget on attacking positions, with Alonso’s system requiring two creative midfielders to really make things tick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n And with Cole Palmer nowhere near as good as he was a couple of years ago, it might be a good idea to make a statement signing to play alongside him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gibbs-White is already a top-class operator in the Premier League and would be the dream candidate, but Football Insider have suggested that it might take around \u00a370m to secure his services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Chelsea could also benefit from signing another striker, with Liam Delap seemingly likely to leave and Joao Pedro being linked with a move to Barcelona.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The ultimate signing would be Alvarez, a born winner and a versatile forward who can score goals as well as create chances for others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He certainly won’t come cheap, with reports suggesting that Barcelona have been quoted an asking price of around \u00a3167m. However, given that Chelsea aren’t a direct rival to Atletico Madrid, they might be able to sign him for slightly less.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n EXPRESS SPORT ON FB!<\/strong> Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Xabi Alonso will officially take charge of Chelsea at the end of the season (Image:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9937","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\/9937","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=9937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Xabi](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/1200x712\/secondary\/vitoria-gasteiz-spain-xabi-alonso-head-coach-of-real-madrid-looks-on-prior-to-the-laliga-ea-6925817.jpg?r=1779034996949\" "\\"Xabi")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/p>\n![\"Alejandro](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/1200x712\/secondary\/alejandro-grimaldo-looks-on-during-matchday-32-1-bundesliga-bayer-leverkusen-and-rb-leipzig-6925820.jpg?r=1779034996973\" "\\"Alejandro")
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