Xabi Alonso's first press conference as Chelsea manager has drawn some intriguing comparisons to those made at the start of his tumultuous Real Madrid reign.
The Spanish coach has replaced Liam Rosenior at Stamford Bridge and is tasked with overseeing a turnaround after the Blues finished 10th last season. He similarly had been called upon by Florentino Perez to try and stop Barcelona from continuing to control the La Liga title picture.
Alonso's spell at the Estadio Bernabeu ended disappointingly after he was controversially dismissed in January following a Supercopa de Espana final loss to Barca. Many of the problems that took hold during his time in the Spanish capital stemmed from player power.
Xabi Alonso's initial Real Madrid plans
Alonso appeared to clash with Vinicius Junior during his seven months in charge of Los Blancos. The Brazilian lacked form and went on a 25-game goal drought, the longest of his career.
When the 44-year-old succeeded Carlo Ancelotti at Madrid he initially vowed to get players to play to their full potential. He said:
"Ive done an analysis of the team, but I'll use that to inform the ideas I have and the project I'm undertaking. As coaches, we depend on the players and they're at the very highest level. The challenge is to build a team and get everyone moving in the same direction. That will be an incredibly powerful force."
He added: "We have great players to work with and I want to get down to the day-to-day work so we can fulfil the potential of each one of them and start putting the pieces in place to build a team."
Alonso worked with a young Madrid squad which included the arrivals of Franco Mastantuono, 18, and Alvaro Carreras, 23. At Chelsea, he is managing a club that have implemented a project focused on youth.
Alonso taking on similar challenge at Chelsea
One player the Blues are desperate for Alonso to get back to his best is Cole Palmer. The English attacker endured a dip in form and as a result missed out on a place in the England squad for the World Cup.
Alonso spoke about Palmer when explaining how he plans to work with his group of players (via
BBC Sport): "We have had a few training sessions already. From the first day, you can see he's a special talent, a special player. It's not easy to have one of those. And you can notice his quality, how he's able to play, the right decision in the right spot."
He added: "So I'm happy that he has come in a good mood, a good mindset to have a great season, and we are really looking forward to getting the best from him... If we are able to build a strong team with the proper stability to find the key players, for sure, Cole is going to be one of those key players in the attacking part."
Despite the problems that took hold off the pitch during Alonso's reign at Madrid, he ended his tenure with an impressive win percentage of 70.59%.
The Spaniard is an exciting appointment for Chelsea who have fallen from grace since a change in ownership in May 2022. He's been handed the title of 'manager' rather than 'coach' which is a first for any new man heading into the dugout under BlueCo's ownership.
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