Xabi Alonso will join Chelsea as their manager from July 1, and his first game will be against the Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney on July 28 during the Blues’ pre-season tour, but he has a lot to sort out before then.
The Spaniard is Chelsea’s first ‘manager’ under the Clearlake Capital and Todd Boehly era. Every previous manager under this regime has been labelled ‘head coach’.
The change in title is a clear indication that Chelsea will be giving Alonso more power to make important decisions.
So what will be his first areas to fix?
Transfer strategy
Chelsea’s transfer strategy has been bold over the last four years, and completed at a serious cash outlay. The Blues have spent £1.5 billion on talent, and it is fair to say that the success of their transfers has varied significantly.
Some players, such as Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and Marc Cucurella have undoubtedly been very successful, but Chelsea have signed dozens of other players who have not worked out at all.
During the last four years Chelsea have looked almost exclusively at young players, with Tosin Adarabioyo the oldest player the club have signed since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 2022. Tosin is only 28.
He is the oldest player in the current squad, and an accusation that has constantly been levelled at Chelsea is that they lack the experience to deal with pressure moments, such as the Champions League round of 16 tie against PSG, which they ultimately lost 8-2 despite it being 2-2 at one stage.
Hayters understands Chelsea will look to change their transfer strategy this summer and go for ‘Premier League ready’ players, but how that plays out in practice will be interesting to see.
Player culture and discipline
It is clear Chelsea have a cultural and discipline problem. They have received 11 red cards in all competitions this term, while Arsenal for example have not received a single red card in any competition.
This has hindered their chances in key games such as against Manchester United and Arsenal in the league, where both Robert Sanchez and Pedro Neto were sent off in the respective games. Chelsea lost both.
The Blues have also received 90 yellow cards this campaign, the second-highest of any team in the league.
The ill-discipline was an issue during Enzo Maresca’s reign and Liam Rosenior’s, suggesting it is a player problem, and one Alonso has to fix as a matter of urgency.
The cultural issue at the club came to light in the fallout of Rosenior’s departure. It was widely reported that some players referred to him as the ‘substitute teacher’, Marc Cucurella’s barber leaked the team news before his final game in charge against Brighton, and both Cucurella and Fernandez went out to the media and hinted they wanted moves away from the club.
Now this in large part could have been due to players feeling Rosenior wasn’t up to such a big job, but it shows a clear lack of professionalism, and that the dressing room holds a lot of power.
Alonso struggled with the egos he had to deal with at Real Madrid. The likes of Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.
Chelsea don’t have stars at the same level of Real, but it seems Alonso will have to gain their respect. He should find it easier than Rosenior did, given his decorated career as a player, and his managerial achievements to date.
Club’s relationship with the fans
The relationship between Chelsea and their fans has very quickly deteriorated over the last four or five months. Fans have become sick of the way the club is run, and initially held a protest in January before the league game against Brentford.
Fan group ‘Not A Project CFC’ arranged the protest, specifically against the ownership and sporting directors. Only around 150 fans turned up, but as Rosenior was appointed and then left in the space of three months, the same group held another protest in April before the match against Manchester United.
Between 800-1,000 fans turned up this time, and the vitriol was palpable. There was then another protest less than a month later before the FA Cup final against Manchester City which Chelsea lost.
‘Not A Project CFC’ had arranged more action just three days after the final for the game against Tottenham, but news of Xabi Alonso’s appointment came before that and the action was called off.
An increasing number of fans are taking part in the protests, and the atmosphere in the stadium has been incredibly toxic at times this season.
It is also worth noting that each protest has been directed at the owners and sporting directors, and not the managers.
Xabi Alonso will of course be supported when he joins, but poor summer business or a run of poor form next season will quickly see a return of the fan anger.
The Spaniard will have his work cut out for him, but he is a Bundesliga winner and has managed one of the biggest club in the world in Real Madrid. If this appointment isn’t successful for Chelsea, you wonder if any will be.