Xabi Alonso sat in the Extreme WOW Suite at Sydney’s W Hotel and delivered a striking declaration about why he chose to take the Chelsea job.
The 44-year-old Spanish manager pointed to his head and his gut, saying: “For sure it had to be a lot from here and also from here. It has to be from the guts.”
Alonso becomes the fifth permanent managerial appointment BlueCo have made in four years, following Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior in the role.
None of those four predecessors lasted more than 18 months in charge, and Alonso has been handed a four-year contract with the clear expectation that he will change that pattern.
“I saw it was good timing from the club, good timing for myself, a good opportunity,” Alonso said, speaking to a group of six journalists against the backdrop of a sun-drenched Sydney Harbour.
“There is a big potential to improve and let’s see how long it takes. Making the changes we have started analysing with the team, look for the future. We are in that process. I felt that I had the chance to enjoy being the manager.”
Alonso arrives at Stamford Bridge with enormous credibility, having accumulated 17 major honours as a player and three as a coach since beginning his managerial career in 2019.
His record-breaking 2023/24 campaign with Bayer Leverkusen, during which the German club went on a remarkable 51-game unbeaten streak across a 361-day period, established him as one of the most respected young coaches in world football.
His spell at Real Madrid ended in less than eight months, but Alonso addressed that chapter with characteristic composure and honesty, describing it as a scar that has now healed.
“Luckily there are not too many scars in my career,” Alonso explained. “So, okay, I got a scar but this heals. Now it is healed and now I am very motivated and determined to enjoy this next step as I did when I started in Madrid. But you move on.”
He added: “Looking back, I take the positives and the things that didn’t work. I have been very critical about myself, thinking about what I could have done better because for sure it did not go as expected. But you move on to other things.”
Asked whether those setbacks would make him a stronger coach going forward, his answer was emphatic: “Sure, sure, sure. You learn from the disappointment of things that were not meant to be and you try to think that things that will be better.”
Building a culture at Chelsea is central to Alonso’s project, and he offered a clear-eyed explanation of what that actually means in practice.
“For me, you need the right balance of personalities, of maturity stages, early twenties with early thirties and in between, players in different stages of their careers,” he said. “There’s not a formula for that, but there is a feeling for that.”
Chelsea’s transfer activity this summer reflects a notable shift in direction, with 35-year-old Danny Welbeck and 36-year-old Jordan Henderson arriving alongside 26-year-old Maxence Lacroix and 21-year-old Marco Palestra.
Welbeck and Henderson bring a combined 863 Premier League appearances to a squad that previously averaged just 20 years of age in its 2025/26 signings.
Alonso spoke about the alignment between himself and the club’s sporting directors before accepting the role, saying the shared analysis was the critical foundation for moving forward together.
“We had the same ideas, the same analysis to start the momentum working together and that is why we are taking the steps together, the decisions to have a good team,” he said.
Away from football, Alonso grew up in San Sebastian, a city in the Basque region of northern Spain around 20 miles from the French border, and its calm, composed culture is clearly embedded in him.
He admitted he can only cook three dishes, one of which is Kokotxas, a traditional Basque delicacy made from the throat or chin area of hake or cod, reflecting the deep food culture of his home city.
London has already made a strong impression on Alonso and his family, with his wife Nagore Aranburu playing a significant role in the collective decision to accept the Chelsea position.
“It makes sense in this stage of our lives to come to London,” Alonso said. “My wife loves it. My daughters are coming. My son is going to university. But to have this experience is nice and well. I am looking forward to having more time to discover the city.”
