The Athletic reported this month<\/a> that names on the club\u2019s new head coach shortlist included Alonso, Iraola, and Fulham\u2019s Marco Silva.<\/p>\nMadrid won 10 of Alonso\u2019s first 11 La Liga matches at the helm, including the October 24 Clasico against Barcelona. However, they were in second place, four points behind Barca at the time of his sacking, as well as having just lost the Supercopa de Espa\u00f1a final to Hansi Flick\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Alonso joined Madrid after 18 months in charge of Bayer Leverkusen, during which he guided the Bundesliga club to their first title in 2023-24 with an unbeaten domestic season. They also reached the Europa League final, losing to Atalanta.<\/p>\n
The former midfielder spent five years at Madrid as a player between 2009 and 2014, winning five trophies, including one Champions League title, having joined the club from Liverpool. Alonso had a five-year spell in the Premier League with Liverpool and was part of the side that won the Champions League in 2007.<\/p>\n
Iraola, meanwhile, confirmed in April that he will leave Bournemouth when his contract expires at the end of this season. He joined the club from Rayo Vallecano to replace Gary O\u2019Neil in June 2023 and has won admirers for the Vitality Stadium club\u2019s attacking and entertaining style of play.<\/p>\n
Analysis from data and tactics writers Conor O\u2019Neill and Mark Carey<\/p>\n
While Alonso\u2019s time in Spain may not have been happy, it has at least prepared him to navigate the boardroom and the dressing room simultaneously.<\/p>\n
On the pitch, Alonso has the skill set to take a team to the top of European football with his possession-dominant, high-tempo style. The 44-year-old was known for his dynamic 3-4-2-1 system during his time at Bayer Leverkusen, but was more inclined to tweak things during his time at Madrid to get the best out of his squad.<\/p>\n
Irrespective of the formation on paper, the system would often still resemble the shape of many elite teams in recent years, with a midfielder dropping between the centre-backs, advanced full-backs, and a box midfield to control central spaces.<\/p>\n
With one or two additions, Chelsea have the profile of players to suit Alonso\u2019s style of play.<\/p>\n
While his stock fell slightly after his Madrid experience, Alonso is still very highly rated, having guided Bayer Leverkusen to the Bundesliga title in 2024.<\/p>\n
And Iraola?<\/strong><\/p>\nIraola has moulded Bournemouth into one of the most front-footed, aggressive teams in the league. His side rank high in the Premier League for shot-ending turnovers, evidence of their high-pressing approach.<\/p>\n
The good news for Chelsea is that they too rank high for this, suggesting that this young squad is well-equipped to match his exacting demands.<\/p>\n
Bournemouth\u2019s strong showing this season is all the more impressive given last summer\u2019s upheaval.<\/p>\n
A consequence of Iraola\u2019s ability to rapidly improve young players is that those stars are then picked off by bigger clubs. They lost key defenders Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez to Real Madrid and Liverpool respectively, while star forward Antoine Semenyo was signed by Manchester City in January.<\/p>\n
Chelsea have become renowned for their squad churn under BlueCo, buying and selling a dizzying cast of young prospects. Managing this volatility is one of the toughest demands of the job, but Iraola has shown that he can quickly integrate new recruits into his system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea are exploring a deal to appoint Xabi Alonso as the club\u2019s new head coach. The Spaniard is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":789501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[461,4732,220,10214,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-789500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-chelsea","9":"tag-la-liga","10":"tag-premier-league","11":"tag-real-madrid","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116557834293224191","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}