Xabi Alonso showed up at Chelsea’s training ground Thursday morning and the club’s rebuild officially has a new face. The Spaniard was hired back in May to replace Liam Rosenior but only now started his actual job at Stamford Bridge.
He arrived as players who aren’t at the World Cup reported for preseason. That group includes Cole Palmer, who somehow got left out of Thomas Tuchel’s England squad for this summer’s tournament. Levi Colwill is also back after missing the World Cup cut despite looking solid coming off a long ACL recovery.
What Alonso Walks Into
Chelsea finished 10th last season. That’s pretty bad for a club that spent what they spent. They cycled through Enzo Maresca, Rosenior and interim guy Calum McFarlane. No European football this coming season. That’s the reality.
But Alonso has already been working behind the scenes. The club brought in full-back Marco Pelastra this summer. And Geovany Quenda, who was signed before Alonso got the job, officially joined Wednesday after finally leaving Sporting CP.
Alonso also wanted to reunite with Granit Xhaka, who’s now Sunderland’s captain. Standard Sport reported Chelsea had a bid rejected for the Swiss midfielder. Xhaka used to play for Arsenal and apparently wanted to move back to London from Wearside. Nothing’s happened yet but it’s not dead either.
The System and the Track Record
At Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso ran a 3-4-2-1 that made everyone look smarter than they actually were. He led them to their first Bundesliga title in 2023-24 and they went undefeated domestically that season. That’s not a typo. Undefeated.
He left for Real Madrid in 2025, the club where he played from 2009 to 2014. That didn’t go great. He made the Club World Cup semifinals but got sacked in January after losing the Super Cup to Barcelona.
Now he’s back in England trying to fix a club that’s been broken for a while. The pieces are there. Palmer is legit. Colwill is developing. Quenda looks like a real talent. Alonso just has to make it all work.
Preseason started Thursday. The real test comes when the games actually count.
Leave a Comment