Xabi Alonso Might Be Chelsea’s Best Chance at Stability – If They Let Him Work

Everything seemed perfect for Xabi Alonso 360 days ago. Appointed Real Madrid head coach on 25 May 2025 — exactly 20 years to the day after winning his first Champions League as a player with Liverpool — he appeared set for the next natural stage of an outstanding managerial career.

It did not work out. Alonso and the 15-time European champions parted ways in January, with a broad consensus that he had been set an almost impossible task at a club where the only certainty is perpetual uncertainty.

So, naturally, his next move has been to join Chelsea.

Another rollercoaster. Another club burning through managers. After following up the UEFA Conference League with the FIFA Club World Cup title last summer, Chelsea sacked the coach who delivered both — Enzo Maresca — replaced him with Liam Rosenior, and sacked him too. Now it is Alonso’s turn, and the appointment comes with a notable distinction: he has been handed the title of manager rather than head coach, suggesting a degree of authority that his predecessors did not enjoy.

Whether that authority is genuinely honoured will likely determine whether this appointment succeeds.

Why Alonso? The Track Record That Made Chelsea Act

To understand the logic of this appointment, it helps to understand how remarkable Alonso’s work at Bayer Leverkusen actually was.

When he arrived at Die Werkself in October 2022, they were second from bottom in the Bundesliga with just five points from eight games. Alonso turned them around immediately.

In the remainder of that 2022-23 campaign, Leverkusen accumulated 45 points from 26 games under his management — only Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and RB Leipzig won more points over the same period.

That, though, was merely the prelude to something truly historic.

The Leverkusen Miracle: An Undefeated Season

The 2023-24 campaign delivered one of the most extraordinary achievements in the history of German football. Alonso led Leverkusen to their first ever Bundesliga title — and did so as the first team in the competition’s history to go undefeated. Not even Bayern Munich had accomplished that feat. Leverkusen won 28 and drew six of their 34 league matches, and also claimed the DFB-Pokal.

Only an uncharacteristically limp performance in the Europa League final against Atalanta prevented what would have been an undefeated treble.

The title was built on a foundation of defensive solidity and attacking quality simultaneously.

In 2024-25, Leverkusen came back down to something resembling normality — finishing second, losing just three times (W19 D12), but falling 13 points behind a resurgent Bayern under Vincent Kompany. Even a step backwards from the extraordinary was still elite.

Real Madrid: A Fair Attempt in an Almost Impossible Environment

Alonso arrived at the Bernabéu in the summer of 2025 with a 71% win percentage across a 34-game tenure (W24 D4 L6) — a figure that ranks sixth among all Real Madrid managers to have taken charge of at least 25 games. On paper, that is a reasonable record.

But the specifics were difficult. He was immediately thrown into the expanded Club World Cup with minimal preparation time, where a 4-0 semi-final defeat to PSG raised immediate questions. There were high-profile domestic lows — a 5-2 collapse at Atlético Madrid after leading 2-1, the first time Atlético had scored five against Real since November 1950. A dressing room confrontation with Vinícius Júnior, who threatened to leave after being substituted in a win over Barcelona. Consecutive draws against Rayo Vallecano, Elche, and Girona. A 2-0 home loss to Celta Vigo where discipline evaporated.

The end came after a 3-2 defeat in the Supercopa de España final to Barcelona.

One consistent tactical problem stood out. While his Leverkusen title had been built on rigid structural discipline — a 3-4-2-1 in every single Bundesliga game of the 2023-24 season — at Madrid, Alonso never found a shape he could rely on.

In 19 La Liga games at Real Madrid, he used 15 different formations.

That tactical inconsistency, in a notoriously challenging environment where patience is permanently in short supply, was arguably as damaging as the results themselves.

What Chelsea Can Expect: Style, Possession, and Structure

Chelsea’s statement cited Alonso’s “game model” as a key factor in the appointment. So what does that model look like in practice?

His Leverkusen side was built on a 3-4-2-1 formation — three at the back, a box midfield, wing-backs with licence to attack, and a recognised number nine. At Sociedad and at Madrid, he broadly worked with four at the back, demonstrating tactical flexibility. But the constants across his best work have been clear: high possession, controlled build-up, and a willingness to press aggressively when the opportunity arises.

There is a notable stylistic alignment. Chelsea currently play with a deliberate, possession-oriented approach — slow in transition, high in passes per sequence. That is not dissimilar to how Alonso’s Leverkusen operated, particularly in the title-winning season. The adjustment for Chelsea’s players should, in theory, be manageable.

What Alonso did transform at Leverkusen, and may seek to bring to Chelsea, was the pressing intensity. When he first arrived, Leverkusen barely pressed at all — their PPDA (passes allowed per defensive action) of 15.9 was among the least aggressive in the Bundesliga. By the title-winning season, they had recorded 367 high turnovers — at least 54 more than any other Bundesliga team, and second across Europe’s top five leagues only to Manchester City.

Real Madrid under Alonso also excelled in this area, making 166 high turnovers in La Liga — only Athletic Club made more — with 41 shots and seven goals from high turnovers, both league highs.

If Alonso can unlock that same pressing intensity at Chelsea, it would address one of the most persistent weaknesses of the current squad.

The Challenge: Chelsea’s Record Against Top Opposition

One legitimate concern about Alonso’s appointment is his record in elite fixtures. At Real Madrid, his side were beaten by PSG, Barcelona, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Atlético Madrid. For a club of Real’s stature, that is a significant collection of high-profile defeats.

At Chelsea, this translates directly. The Blues have won just three of their 17 Premier League games against the other nine teams currently in the top half of the table this season (D6 L8). Only the three relegated clubs have accumulated fewer points against the current top 10.

Improving that record will be essential for Chelsea to compete for the top four — and Alonso will need to demonstrate that his difficulties against elite opposition at Real Madrid were a product of circumstance rather than a structural weakness in his coaching.

The Leverkusen Blueprint: What Chelsea Must Learn From It

Alonso’s success at Leverkusen was not purely tactical. It was cultural.

When he arrived, Leverkusen were in crisis. The squad and club humbly embraced him and his ideas — gave him time, gave him trust, and gave him the consistency of support that allowed his methods to take root. The result was the most extraordinary domestic season in the club’s history.

At Real Madrid, humility is not a characteristic the institution has ever cultivated. No representative of the club is ever far from reminding the room that they are the biggest club in the world — a mindset that makes it almost impossible for any manager to build the culture of patience and collective development that Alonso’s methods require.

Whether Chelsea sit closer to Leverkusen or Real Madrid on that spectrum is an open question. The ownership group at Stamford Bridge has a well-documented history of managerial intervention — a history that contributed directly to the situations requiring Alonso’s appointment in the first place.

As strange as it sounds, Chelsea missing out on European football next season might actually help. Manchester United demonstrated this season how valuable full weeks on the training ground can be — and a manager arriving at a new club with a young squad and a complex project would benefit enormously from uninterrupted time to work.

The club’s statement promised Alonso belief, backing, and the space to lead “the next phase of Chelsea’s journey.” Whether those words translate into genuine patience and non-interference will be the defining factor in whether this appointment succeeds or fails.

Alonso has the talent. He has the track record. He has the experience of navigating a difficult environment in Madrid and the extraordinary precedent of Leverkusen.

The rest depends on Chelsea deciding what kind of club they want to be.

Read More: How Mikel Arteta Turned Arsenal Into Champions: The Culture Transformation That Ended a 22-Year Drought

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