Xabi Alonso is described as “open” to the possibility of becoming Chelsea’s new permanent manager, with the Blues taking a different approach after the disastrously short Liam Rosenior experiment.
Rosenior wound up getting fired only four months into a six-and-a-half year contract, after a humbling Champions League elimination and getting into an alarming Premier League losing streak.
His appointment had been calculated, brought in from sister club Strasbourg under the BlueCo umbrella, but a lack of elite managerial experience and an apparent inability to motivate and inspire Chelsea’s players meant it was a gamble that ultimately backfired spectacularly.
Having lost Enzo Maresca at the start of January after the Italian openly clashed with the senior management, Chelsea are on the hunt for a new boss again.
The Athletic reports that Chelsea are “exploring a deal” for Alonso, who is out of work after proving to be the wrong fit for Real Madrid. No decision about who might get the job has been made and the soccer department’s five-person leadership team has to consider the various options, before submitting a recommendation to the owners.
But the Spaniard, in particular, appears interested in at least discussing what it might look like for him to become Chelsea manager.
Xabi Alonso Style a Good Match for Chelsea
Alonso has emerged from this season’s Real Madrid fiasco with his reputation intact. The former Los Blancos midfielder stood out as the obvious candidate at the Bernabéu last summer because of history with the club as a player and his record in management at Bayer Leverkusen—he guided the Bundesliga team to their first ever national championship as part of an undefeated domestic double.
But where Real Madrid need a ‘manager’ to unite and motivate a squad dominated by world class stars—in the way Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti previously did—Alonso is more of a ‘coach’ who likes to drill players with tactics. The biggest criticism of him in the wake of his dismissal in January, after less than eight months in charge, was trying to coach players who didn’t want to be.
That mismatch and apparent lack of due diligence falls on Real Madrid, rather than Alonso. The rotten culture that has since emerged, including literal infighting last week, also puts far more blame on the players and the club than the manager who couldn’t control them.
Everything that was wrong about Alonso for Real Madrid looks like it could work for Chelsea.
Alonso develops young talents and makes players better through his tactical wisdom. Florian Wirtz was already a known quantity but flourished under his guidance. Jeremie Frimpong, Piero Hincapié, Victor Boniface, Odilon Kossounou and Josip Stanišić were emerging players who benefited from him, while even veterans like Granit Xhaka and Robert Andrich found new heights.
With a squad full of unpolished potential, Chelsea are crying out for a manager who can do that.
Even the formation that Alonso used in Germany—albeit not at Real Madrid—is an intriguing idea for Chelsea. The Blues have a wealth of center backs and attacking fullbacks ripe for a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 system. Inside forwards and wingers, like Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho also fit such a configuration. Chelsea had similar success under Antonio Conte in 2016–17.
On top of that, he has experience of the Premier League from his days as a Liverpool player, while overall in his career he knows what it’s like to be successful at the highest level—winning national titles in two countries, two Champions Leagues, the World Cup and two European Championships.
Chelsea Manager Shortlist Grows to Five—Report
Xabi Alonso is not alone in being of interest to Chelsea ahead of next season. The Spaniard’s name first cropped up earlier this month alongside compatriot Andoni Iraola, who is leaving Bournemouth at the end of the campaign, and Fulham’s Marco Silva.
Iraola could be on the brink of taking Bournemouth—the smallest team in the Premier League—into the Champions League at Chelsea’s expense. He plays a brand of high-tempo soccer and is also believed to be the only alternative to Michael Carrick that has so far caught Manchester United’s eye.
While Iraola has a proven record in the Premier League, the downside is that his reputation as a manager has been created as a small club builder, having previously led Rayo Vallecano in Spain. Chelsea have been down that road before during the BlueCo era with Graham Potter and sometimes the experience doesn’t translate to a bigger club with more moving parts and higher expectations.
Silva has worked in England for close to a decade, with Hull City, Watford and Everton. His best success has been re-establishing Fulham as a Premier League team and even took the Cottagers as high as 10th in 2022–23, which he could yet better this season. But hasn’t won a major trophy since a Super League Greece title with Olympiacos 10 years ago.
The Telegraph reports that Oliver Glasner and Filipe Luís are the latest names added to the Chelsea shortlist. Glasner has impressed with Crystal Palace, delivering the club’s first ever major trophy in the shape of last season’s FA Cup. He could yet add a European trophy this month when the Eagles face Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final, on top of the Europa League he won with Eintracht Frankfurt. But his summer departure has been fueled by grievances with the Crystal Palace hierarchy that have been aired in public, which has echoes of Maresca’s downfall.
Luís was formerly a Chelsea player, who was most recently in charge of Flamengo in Brazil, winning the Copa Libertadores. He currently lacks the UEFA Pro License to allow him to manage Chelsea, but it is reported that efforts are being made to fast-track him to that qualification.
Cesc Fàbregas is a name “discussed internally” but doesn’t appear to be on the shortlist at this time.
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