Chelsea restarts from Xabi Alonso. After a failed season that ended without trophies and with the real risk of being left out of European cups, the Blues chose the Basque coach to inaugurate a new course. The agreement has been finalized: Alonso has signed a four-year contract and the official announcement could arrive within the next few hours. The Spanish coach accepted the company's proposal on Saturday 16 May. the official announcement arrived the following day via the Blues' social channels.
For the London club this is yet another technical revolution. After the changes of Pochettino, Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior, Chelsea has decided to focus on an international profile with a strong personality, convinced that Alonso can bring stability and identity back to Stamford Bridge. The company also evaluated other profiles until choosing to focus on him.
Il comunicato ufficiale
Chelsea are delighted to announce the appointment of Xabi Alonso as Men's First Team Manager. The Spaniard will start on 1 July 2026, having agreed a four-year deal at Stamford Bridge. Welcome to Chelsea, Xabi!
Le prime parole di Xabi
"Chelsea is one of the most important clubs in world football and becoming manager of this great team fills me with immense pride. From conversations I have had with the ownership and management, it is clear that we share the same ambition. We want to build a team capable of consistently competing at the highest level and challenging for trophies. There is great talent in the squad and huge potential in this club, and it will be a great honor for me to lead it. Now the focus is on hard work, building the right culture and winning the trophies.”
Xabi Alonso in cima alla lista già dalle scorse settimane
The former manager of Real Madrid had ended up at the top of the list of Blues managers already in recent weeks but had also already been linked to the club in the past before his experience at Leverkusen and Madrid. In London there was a direct meeting with the owners, which was decisive in reaching the definitive yes. Alonso would have asked for guarantees on the technical project and greater weight in sporting decisions, elements that Chelsea seem willing to grant him in order to entrust him with the reconstruction of the team.
Alonso profilo di prestigio
Despite the negative experience at Real Madrid, which ended after just seven months, Alonso's prestige remains a very high level profile in Europe thanks above all to the extraordinary work done with Bayer Leverkusen, led to the historic 2023-24 Bundesliga without defeats. A path that convinced Chelsea to focus heavily on him, even in a moment of great corporate and technical instability.
For Alonso it will also be a return to the Premier League, a championship he knows well from his days as a footballer with Liverpool. At 44 years old, the manager is thus preparing for one of the most complicated challenges of his career: relaunching a young, expensive Chelsea team that has so far been unable to maintain the expectations that were created with the arrival of the new American ownership.