Xabi Alonso Chelsea: transfer control, style of play and Liverpool link – key questions answered Football News

Xabi Alonso was Chelsea’s number one target to become their new manager and he has now agreed to take over on a four-year deal.

The job that awaits the former Liverpool midfielder at Stamford Bridge is a daunting one. Chelsea, currently ninth in the Premier League, could miss out on European qualification altogether with the loss of Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenier.

Enzo Fernandez, the £105m midfielder, has courted uncertainty over his future after flirting with a move to Real Madrid. Cole Palmer’s form has hit rock bottom, and speculation is rife that he wants out.

Chelsea was not the easiest place for managers to work. Maresca fell out with the hierarchy due to his perceived lack of control, among other things, while Rosenier only lasted three months before being fired.

Former Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen boss Alonso, whose appointment will be announced on Sunday, is set to become the sixth permanent appointment after the Blues take over Chelsea in May 2022.

Alonso’s in-tray will be stacked high when he starts work on July 1. here, Sky Sports News’ Chief Correspondent Kaveh Solhekol analyzes the most pressing issues facing Chelsea’s next boss and details how he is expected to fit into Blueco’s framework.

Why did Chelsea choose Alonso?

Chelsea had a shortlist of around five names, including Marco Silva and Andoni Iraola, and spoke to all candidates.

Of all the candidates they have spoken to, they think Xabi Alonso is the outstanding candidate. He is the one they want to lead them in the future. They looked at his CV both as a player and as a manager.

Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich all won as a player. With Spain, of course, he won the Euros, as well as the World Cup and was one of the best players of his generation.

As a manager, he has no Premier League experience, but he had a great season at Bayer Leverkusen, winning the double, going unbeaten. He then moved to Real Madrid, things went wrong, although he won 24 of his 34 games in charge. His win percentage was like 70 percent, which is pretty good.

On paper, you have to say, he was an outstanding candidate, except that he couldn’t manage in the Premier League.

How much control will he have?

Alonso will not have full control. But he will not be the head coach, but Chelsea’s manager. This is in recognition of his experience, track record and key role in helping to develop all aspects of the club.

Someone like Liam Rosenier or even Enzo Maresca, for example, could say more than that.

Don’t forget that Maresca was doing pretty well in her first full season, but then behind the scenes the relationship started to sour.

He was approached by Manchester City about potentially taking over from Pep Guardiola when he decided to leave City. So it derailed their relationship, but I think Maresca was unhappy behind the scenes. He wanted more control, the kind of control that managers traditionally had but you’re not going to get anymore.

Will the appointment of Alonso change the transfer strategy?

It was going to change anyway. Chelsea have realized that they need a change in their transfer strategy. They admit they need a bit more experience. They want to sign three to four ready first-team players in the summer window, including a centre-back.

They saw the benefit a player with experience could bring with Levi Colwill recently returning from his ACL injury.

Chelsea need more players like Colwill with leadership qualities, personality and character who can sort things out on the pitch when things are going wrong.

Alonso will be involved in player transfers this summer. He will have a big say in who Chelsea sign but they won’t just say, ‘Xabi, you’re in charge now. You are in charge of buying and selling players. You can do whatever you want’. He has to adapt to the existing structure in the club.

The current football leadership structure will remain in place at Chelsea. None of the sports directors will leave. They were all involved in Alonso’s recruitment.

What are the key issues to tackle this summer?

But he has to sort out what’s going to happen with Enzo Fernandez. Is he going to Real Madrid? Is Real Madrid going to offer him? Long term, what’s going to happen to Cole Palmer? Does Palmer want to go to Manchester United? Does Manchester United want to sign him?

I think he needs to sit down and talk to some of these players. Joao Pedro has also been linked with a possible move to Barcelona. She’s not for sale, but she needs to have this conversation.

Alonso really needs to get involved in the transfer window. He has more to say than any other Chelsea head coach in the past.

He has to manage his relationship with the people above him, sports directors and owners. He has to always be on their side, always be very collegial, be happy with the way Chelsea work and accept the fact that he is not Sir Alex Ferguson and he is not Arsene Wenger.

How will Alonso’s style work at Chelsea?

There has been a lot of talk about the fact that he prefers to play with three at the back and with wing-backs. Interestingly, that’s how Chelsea played in the FA Cup final on Saturday.

Now the jury is out on whether there are players to play in that system. They also have wing-backs like Malo Gusto, Mark Cucurella, who are very good in that role. But do they have other players who can play that role? They certainly have a lot of center backs. So, I don’t think they will have any problem choosing three centre-backs.

But Chelsea’s back three will not be married for the game. He used that formation at Bayer Leverkusen because it suited the players in his squad. He is more than happy to play with a back four and Chelsea will play different formations under him.

It will be interesting to see how they play because inside the Real Madrid dressing room there were issues with the way Alonso wanted Real to play and the roles he created for certain players in the squad. Some players were not happy with what they were asked to do.

But I think he will be a tough taskmaster. I also think that when he goes into the Chelsea dressing room, he will have the respect of the players. And there are some big characters in that Chelsea dressing room. There is a World Cup winner in that Chelsea dressing room.

Chelsea owners think that’s what they need in the dressing room. Someone who can go straight and respect the Chelsea players.

What awaits Alonso behind the scenes?

Chelsea have some really, really good players. They have world class players. I don’t think things are as bad at Chelsea as they are sometimes made out to be.

What they didn’t have was the right manager, the manager who fit the structure they had at the club. They have great managers like Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca, who won two trophies in his first season and brought Chelsea back to the Champions League, but there has been turmoil behind the scenes.

There is a disturbance. People are falling out with each other. Going forward, Alonso will have to negotiate all of those as well.

It’s not just about training players. It’s also about how you manage the media, how you approach sports managers, how you approach owners, win over fans and how you approach them.

Chelsea fans are demanding and have got real concerns about the way the club is being run. Owners are listening to those concerns. We have seen protests at games.

So, just because Chelsea have a new manager and he’s a big name, it doesn’t mean all the club’s problems are solved.

Potentially not being in Europe next season could help Xabi Alonso as he will have more time to work with his players and perhaps follow in Michael Carrick’s footsteps, as he did at United, where he can focus solely on the home front.

Was Liverpool in the picture?

I don’t think Liverpool were in Alonso’s picture at all. They decided they would stick with Arne Slott. He himself said in his press conference on Thursday that he has every reason to believe that he is still going to be Liverpool’s head coach next season.

If you’ve read or heard what Xabi Alonso has said in the past, he wants to be Liverpool manager one day in the future.

If he plans his ideal career path, it involves managing Liverpool one day. But the Liverpool job is not available at the moment and Liverpool have not made any move for him. They’ve known for a while that he’s available.

Potentially if they decided they wanted to change direction, they could have contacted him, and made an official approach, but they didn’t.

I know a lot of Liverpool fans would love him back but he can’t pick up the phone and beg Liverpool to come for him. He can only accept the jobs that are offered to him and he knows that Chelsea really wants him. That’s why he agreed to become Chelsea’s manager.