Xabi Alonso and the Chelsea owners appear to be getting along rather well, but it isn’t without some tough decisions behind the scenes.
Chelsea have kicked off their summer window by completing the permanent signing of Marco Palestra from Atalanta, alongside the arrivals of raw young talents Geovany Quenda and Dastan Satpayev.
To further back new manager Xabi Alonso, the hierarchy is locked in negotiations to land veteran midfielder Granit Xhaka and have even had a bid rejected. Additionally, the Blues are heavily linked with Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix and Rayo Vallecano left-back Pep Chavarria.
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Thoughts?
Granit Xhaka isn’t wanted by everyone at Chelsea
Simon Phillips on the SPTC YouTube channel has given some quick transfer updates on Chelsea, with the most interesting one coming in the form of Granit Xhaka.
From the outside, it looks as if Chelsea are desperate to add experience in the form of the Sunderland midfielder, but that’s a little far from the truth.
“Chelsea are trying to sign Xhaka from Sunderland on the request of Xabi Alonso. They obviously know each other very well. And both of them want to link back up again and Alonso has gone into Chelsea and said, “I want Xhaka to come in. He’s one of my midfield priorities.”
“So, Chelsea have reluctantly said they will go and get him. Or they will try and go and get him. It was through gritted teeth. That is what I heard from sources.”
It’s a step in the right direction for the Chelsea owners
Chelsea submitting an initial bid for Granit Xhaka marks a rare, encouraging step in the right direction for an ownership group notoriously trapped in its own ideology. By allowing Xabi Alonso the authority to target his former Bayer Leverkusen captain, the board is finally showing a willingness to compromise.
However, the fact that this pursuit is being executed through gritted teeth exposes a worrying and deeply flawed blind spot at the executive level. The hierarchy’s internal reluctance reveals that they still fail to grasp exactly why Alonso is demanding the 33-year-old.
They view Xhaka purely as a short-term financial drain with zero future resale value, completely overlooking the invaluable maturity, elite mentality, and battle-tested Premier League experience he would inject into a dressing room desperately crying out for a leader.
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