An agreement has been completed for Xabi Alonso to become the new Chelsea manager.
Alonso, 44, visited London early last week and has accepted the opportunity, with a four-year contract now finalised and an announcement expected imminently.
Alonso was the club’s top target throughout, and the former Real Madrid head coach wanted the Stamford Bridge move.
The Athletic reported on Monday that Chelsea were exploring a deal to appoint Alonso as a permanent successor to Liam Rosenior, with outgoing Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola also a strong contender.
The former midfielder has been out of management since being sacked by Real Madrid in January, just seven months into the three-year deal he signed in the summer.
Alonso had joined the Spanish club after he guided Bayer Leverkusen to their first Bundesliga title in 2023-24 as part of an unbeaten domestic campaign. Madrid won 10 of Alonso’s first 11 La Liga matches at the helm, including the October 24 Clasico, but fell four points behind eventual winners Barcelona and lost to them in the final of the Supercopa de Espana.
Alonso’s appointment would mark a return to the Premier League after a five-year spell with Liverpool during his playing career, in which he won the Champions League in 2007.
Chelsea parted company with Rosenior on April 23 after less than four months in charge. The former Strasbourg head coach was appointed following Enzo Maresca’s departure in January, but was dismissed after a run of five successive Premier League defeats.
Calum McFarlane was placed in interim charge until the end of the season, and he has overseen a loss to Nottingham Forest and a draw to Liverpool, in addition to guiding the club to the FA Cup final.
A shift of power at Chelsea?
Analysis from football writer Cerys Jones
For Chelsea to have finalised this appointment well in advance of the chaos of the summer transfer window and World Cup is a huge relief — and the man they have chosen for the job, on paper, ticks every box.
Alonso’s achievements at Bayer Leverkusen demonstrate his ability to pull together a winning side, while his stature as a player should help command the authority that Liam Rosenior seemed to lack.
The way Alonso has set up his sides in the past, while he has shown a willingness to adapt the exact plan to fit players’ characteristics, broadly fits the personnel Chelsea have — and having clarity about who they will be playing for ought to speed up moves for any additions needed.
The biggest question mark over Alonso arises from his short tenure at Real Madrid, where internal politics proved too much for him. Chelsea will hope that proves to be a reflection on the Bernabeu dressing room, arguably the most unwieldy in world football, rather than the man they have tasked with revitalising their expensive, talented, and at times chaotic team.
The most significant point, though, is that Alonso has been appointed as manager rather than head coach — signifying a wider remit than the purely tactical. The structure Chelsea head coaches have been asked to operate in under BlueCo has been a source of tension, particularly for Mauricio Pochettino, and some have suggested head coach candidates would balk at a perceived lack of control at the club.
For Alonso to take on the mantle of manager suggests a shift in the power of the man in the dugout. How Chelsea’s leadership adapts will be fascinating to see.
Analysis from Chelsea correspondent Simon Johnson
During his time at Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso set his team up to play very entertaining football in a 3-4-2-1 formation, a system that certainly suits the players in Chelsea’s squad. They have been accustomed to playing with three at the back in possession under Maresca and Rosenior for the past two seasons.
Crucially, Alonso improved players while he was there, including Florian Wirtz, who joined Liverpool in a deal worth up to £116million ($158m) last summer.
Wirtz, at his best, plays with a similar swagger to Cole Palmer, an elite player who has lost some of his sparkle over the last 18 months. That can be put partly down to injury and fatigue, yet there has always been a suspicion he preferred the more attacking style and freedom introduced to the side by Mauricio Pochettino in 2023-24.
Another beneficiary from working with Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen was Jeremie Frimpong, who also moved to Liverpool last year. Speaking to The Athletic in 2024, the right-back lavished Alonso with praise for the transformative effect he had on his career.
“Everybody understands him,” he said. “When he has an idea, he can make it make sense to all the players. I always feel like he knows how to use my abilities.”
