{"id":9966,"date":"2026-05-18T07:36:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T07:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9966"},"modified":"2026-05-18T07:36:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T07:36:44","slug":"xabi-alonso-makes-first-demand-after-chelsea-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=9966","title":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso makes first demand after Chelsea deal"},"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 17, 2026 19:48 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\/largestXabiAlonso_2026.jpg\" title=\"Xabi Alonso news\" alt=\"Xabi Alonso news\" itemprop=\"image\"\/><\/p><figcaption><em itemprop=\"articleSection\">Alonso wants senior signings at Chelsea<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:18px; width:450px;\">\n<div style=\"display:inline; border:0px; padding-left:2px; padding-top:3px;\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eyefootball.com\/images\/football_transfer_centre.png\" title=\"Football Transfer Centre\" alt=\"Football Transfer Centre\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span itemprop=\"articleBody\"><br \/>\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-size:16px\">\n<strong>Incoming Chelsea manager <span itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\"><span itemprop=\"name\">Xabi Alonso<\/span><\/span>  has made his first demand ahead of the summer transfer window.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><!-- responsive_ad --><\/p>\n<p>The Spanish tactician was appointed as the club&#8217;s new manager earlier today. He will formally take charge on July 1.<\/p>\n<p>However, the work is already underway for the summer, and there will be a notable change to the club&#8217;s transfer policy.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea have been known for pursuing players aged 23 and below in recent years, and there is currently a lack of experience in the squad.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues have lacked sufficient leadership within the group, and there is a requirement for more senior signings ahead of next season.<\/p>\n<p>That is exactly what Alonso has demanded. He has made it clear to the hierarchy that he wants ready-made signings of high pedigree.<\/p>\n<p>Alonso will have some power to veto transfer decisions in the off-season. He will have a big say on who arrives in the next transfer window.<\/p>\n<p>A new goalkeeper could be among the top priorities for 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 17, 2026 19:48 GMT (UK), by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9966","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\/9966","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=9966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}