Chelsea have endured another frustrating season under BlueCo’s rule, with little chance of Champions League football. However, the Blues are through to the FA Cup final, where Manchester City await.
However, Chelsea needs to improve next season, and after several difficult years, full of silverware but also instability, a project manager is needed to be installed in the hole at Stamford Bridge this summer, someone who can lead the club forward for several years.
Calum McFarlane will achieve cult status when he guides the Londoners to FA Cup glory this month, but he is not a long-term jobber.
Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have already identified a few individuals, one that stands out above all others.
Who Chelsea want to sign this summer
Chelsea have already put together a long list of potential managers ahead of the summer. Even if the Stamford Bridge team fails to secure a place in the Champions League, it is one of the most desirable clubs in the world.
Maybe Andoni Iraola will like it. The outgoing Bournemouth manager has done a great job at the Vitality Stadium over the past few years, and while he is on the shortlist, Manchester United are also interested.
Chelsea can’t get this appointment wrong, not after so many changes in recent years.
According to Chelsea insider Simon Phillips, Chelsea have identified Xabi Alonso as the perfect manager to lead the club forward, and after initial contact with the unemployed coach’s representatives, they are waiting to see if he would be interested in taking the job this summer.
Alonso, by the way, shares the same agent as Iraola, which could increase Chelsea’s chances of signing him.
Although Alonso has considered a return to Anfield as his first choice, Liverpool appear intent on sticking with under-fire Arne Slot, leaving Chelsea with the chance to appoint one of the world’s most coveted new managers.
Why Alonso would be the perfect Chelsea manager
Alonso, 43, did not enjoy his stay at Real Madrid earlier this season, but Los Blancos’ problems run deeper than the man in the dugout, and his previous work with Bayer Leverkusen underlines his strength as one of the world’s most talented coaches.
Bringing a cerebral approach to the table, Alonso is only young, but has already achieved a lot after being handed the boots, taking Bayer Leverkusen to an unprecedented domestic double, winning the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal unbeaten.
Invincible. The Spanish legend has a wealth of experience in the Premier League with Liverpool during his playing days, and his expansive and flowing tactical style could see him mesh with a Chelsea side that is accustomed to that football under Enzo Maresca.
Ironically, Alonso succeeded in uniting the Leverkusen team and imbued them with a deep tactical understanding of his system. His title wins only embellish the quality of management that puts him close to football’s elite. According to content creator James Allcott, he has a “brilliant mind”.
While someone like Iraola has spent the last several years in the Premier League, moving Bournemouth away from their pragmatic ways and heading for a platform at the bottom of the division, Alonso can still be cut above, a wealth of experience needed to take a major role in the Chelsea dugout.
And although his is a singular formation, west Londoners have embraced free-thinking ways in the past.
Chelsea, after all, are no strangers to three-man defences, having won the Premier League in a tactically difficult system under Antonio Conte’s wing.
Alonso may not have the managerial acumen in the Premier League that Iraola has built on the south coast, but he knows the division well and has new coaching qualities that could fit Chelsea’s long-term vision: to return to the top of the European ladder and dominate there for years to come.
The new Sarri: The 4-2-3-1 manager is now ready to accept the Chelsea job
Chelsea have already received good news in their managerial search, with one impressive candidate ready to take the job.
