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Xabi Alonso is reportedly "open" to the idea of taking over as Chelsea's next permanent manager, with the club adopting a fresh approach following the disastrously brief Liam Rosenior tenure.
Rosenior was dismissed just four months into a six-and-a-half year deal, following a humiliating Champions League exit and a worrying run of Premier League defeats.
His hiring had been deliberate, brought in from sister club Strasbourg under the BlueCo umbrella, but a shortage of top-level managerial experience and an apparent failure to motivate Chelsea's players made it a gamble that ultimately blew up in spectacular fashion.
After losing Enzo Maresca at the beginning of January following the Italian's public fallout with senior management, Chelsea find themselves searching for a new head coach once again.
The Athletic reports that Chelsea are "exploring a deal" for Alonso, who has been without a club since proving to be a poor fit at Real Madrid. No final decision on the appointment has been reached, and the football department's five-person leadership group must weigh up the available candidates before presenting a recommendation to the ownership.
The Spaniard, however, appears particularly keen on at least holding talks about what his role as Chelsea manager could entail.
Xabi Alonso Style a Good Match for Chelsea
Alonso has come through this season's Real Madrid debacle with his standing largely unscathed. The former Los Blancos midfielder was the standout candidate at the Bernabéu last summer, owing to his history with the club as a player and his managerial achievements at Bayer Leverkusen—where he led the Bundesliga side to their first ever league title as part of an unbeaten domestic double.
However, where Real Madrid require a 'manager' capable of uniting and galvanizing a squad packed with world-class talent—as Zinedine Zidane and Carlo Ancelotti once did—Alonso is more of a 'coach' who prefers to immerse players in tactical detail. The chief criticism leveled at him following his sacking in January, after fewer than eight months at the helm, was his attempt to coach players who had little interest in being coached.
That incompatibility and apparent failure of due diligence rests with Real Madrid rather than Alonso. The toxic culture that has since come to light, including physical altercations among players last week, places far greater responsibility on the squad and the club than on the manager who was unable to rein them in.
Everything that made Alonso the wrong choice for Real Madrid could make him the right one for Chelsea.
Alonso nurtures young talent and elevates players through his tactical intelligence. Florian Wirtz was already a recognized name but thrived under his stewardship. Jeremie Frimpong, Piero Hincapié, Victor Boniface, Odilon Kossounou and Josip Stanišić were up-and-coming players who grew under his guidance, while even seasoned professionals like Granit Xhaka and Robert Andrich reached new levels.
With a squad brimming with raw potential, Chelsea are desperately in need of a manager capable of doing exactly that.
Even the formation Alonso deployed in Germany—though not at Real Madrid—presents an intriguing prospect for Chelsea. The Blues possess an abundance of center-backs and attacking fullbacks well-suited to a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 setup. Inside forwards and wide players such as Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho would also fit naturally into such a system. Chelsea enjoyed comparable success under Antonio Conte back in 2016–17.
Beyond that, he brings Premier League familiarity from his time as a Liverpool player, and throughout his career has experienced success at the very highest level—claiming league titles in two countries, two Champions Leagues, the World Cup and two European Championships.
Chelsea Manager Shortlist Grows to Five—Report
Xabi Alonso is not the only manager attracting Chelsea's attention ahead of next season. His name first surfaced earlier this month alongside fellow Spaniard Andoni Iraola, who is set to depart Bournemouth at the end of the season, and Fulham's Marco Silva.
Iraola could be on the verge of steering Bournemouth—the Premier League's smallest club—into the Champions League at Chelsea's expense. He employs a high-energy style of play and is also believed to be the primary alternative to Michael Carrick on Manchester United's radar.
While Iraola has an established track record in the Premier League, the concern is that his reputation has been built as a small-club specialist, having previously managed Rayo Vallecano in Spain. Chelsea have traveled that path before during the BlueCo era with Graham Potter, and the transition to a larger club with greater complexity and expectations doesn't always go smoothly.
Silva has spent close to a decade working in England, with Hull City, Watford and Everton. His greatest achievement has been re-establishing Fulham as a Premier League fixture, guiding the Cottagers to as high as 10th in 2022–23, a finish he could yet surpass this term. However, he hasn't lifted a major trophy since winning the Super League Greece title with Olympiacos a decade ago.
The Telegraph reports that Oliver Glasner and Filipe Luís are the newest additions to Chelsea's managerial shortlist. Glasner has made a strong impression at Crystal Palace, delivering the club's first ever major honour in the form of last season's FA Cup. He could yet claim a European trophy this month when the Eagles face Rayo Vallecano in the Conference League final, adding to the Europa League he won with Eintracht Frankfurt. However, his impending exit has been driven by publicly aired grievances with the Crystal Palace hierarchy, which carries echoes of Maresca's departure.
Luís is a former Chelsea player who most recently managed Flamengo in Brazil, winning the Copa Libertadores. He currently does not hold the UEFA Pro License required to manage Chelsea, though reports suggest efforts are underway to fast-track him through the qualification process.
Cesc Fàbregas is a name "discussed internally" but does not appear to feature on the shortlist at present.