Chelsea’s players believe Xabi Alonso is the ideal man to become their next head coach, and talks with his camp are moving in the right direction. No agreement is in place yet, but Alonso has emerged as the frontrunner as Chelsea work to appoint a successor to Liam Rosenior, who was sacked last month after 106 days.
The sense inside the club is that Chelsea want a manager who can command a dressing room and keep strong egos in line, after influential players made no secret of their unease over Enzo Maresca leaving. Alonso fits that brief in the eyes of the squad. He won the Bundesliga title in 2024 with Bayer Leverkusen, has been tracked by Chelsea since he began coaching there in 2022, and has built a résumé that includes Champions League titles with Liverpool and Madrid, plus domestic trophies with Bayern Munich. He also helped Spain to two European Championships and a World Cup between 2008 and 2012.
Alonso has been out of work since leaving Real Madrid in January, after a 34-game spell in which he failed to win over influential parts of the dressing room. Chelsea are now hunting their sixth permanent manager since BlueCo’s takeover in 2022, and the club believe they can give Alonso the assurances he wants, including a say over signings. That does not mean Chelsea are abandoning their recruitment structure. They still have five sporting directors headed by Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, and they do not intend to force players on him.
There is also a wider market effect. Chelsea’s pursuit of Alonso has fed Palace’s optimism about their chances of landing Andoni Iraola, with Bournemouth’s departing coach also on the shortlist alongside Marco Silva, Oliver Glasner and Filipe Luís. Palace are worried they could miss out on Iraola if he is offered the Chelsea job, while Glasner is due to step down after this month’s Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano. Cesc Fàbregas has indicated that he wants to stay at Como, narrowing another possible route Chelsea had considered.
Liverpool are not seen as competition for Alonso at this stage. The club have not contacted him and are likely to keep Arne Slot, leaving Chelsea with a clearer path if they decide to finish the deal. For now, the industry view is that an agreement will be reached. Chelsea are treating Alonso as the answer to a problem they have not been able to solve since the BlueCo era began, and the players appear to have settled on the same conclusion.
That decision matters even before it is signed off because Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City is coming quickly, and Reece James is poised to return to Chelsea’s starting lineup after coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute in the 1-1 draw at Liverpool. Whoever takes the job will inherit a squad already pushing for clarity, authority and a manager they believe can hold the room from day one.
