Chelsea appoint Xabi Alonso as new manager on four-year deal

Xabi Alonso is all set to take over new role as Chelsea's new manager. The announcement was made official by the Premier League club on Sunday. The 44-year-old was available after leaving Real Madrid by mutual consent in January.

According to Reuters, the former Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen manager reportedly becomes the fifth permanent appointment under Chelsea’s BlueCo ownership after Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior.

This marks a crucial return to English football for Alonso, who made 210 appearances for Liverpool.

“Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in world football and it fills me with immense ​pride to become manager of this great club," Alonso ​said in a statement.

“From my conversations with the ownership group and sporting ‌leadership, ⁠it is clear we share the same ambition. We want to build a team capable of competing consistently at the highest level and fighting for trophies.

“There is great talent ​in the ​squad and huge ⁠potential at this football club and it will be my great honour to lead ​it. Now the focus is on hard work, ​building ⁠the right culture and winning trophies."

It is pertinent to note that he previously played for the reds moving to Real Madrid in 2009, and eventually ended his playing career with Bayern Munich in 2017.

Chelsea have experienced a challenging season in the Premier League and are facing an incredibly difficult task to qualify for European competition, after suffering a FA Cup heart-breaking final defeat to Manchester City on Saturday. 

Additionally, hopes persist that Alonso will have the personality alive for his playing career to bring back the significant standards it seeks by qualifying for the future Champions trophies.