The ticking clock that faces Xabi Alonso in the cursed Chelsea job | OneFootball

And so it begins, again. A new boss is through the door at Chelsea. Ambition and alignment are the buzzwords of the day. But for Xabi Alonso, the challenge of prolonging these positive sentiments beyond next May is blatant - it is the curse of the job he’s signed up for.

Alonso is well-versed in the ruthless reality of management; seven months at Real Madrid will do that to you. He now finds himself at Chelsea, another club infamous for its turnover in the dugout. No Chelsea manager has lasted longer that two years since Antonio Conte, the man who also won the club their last Premier League title. Patience is scarce at Stamford Bridge, where four managers have left mid-season in the past five years.

He joins after Chelsea dropped into crisis at the backend of last season, plummeting to 10th and missing out on European football entirely with squad discipline waning. Alonso will need time to build his own culture to deliver the results the ownership so desperately crave - but he can’t be sure if he’ll get it.

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Xabi Alonso at his unveiling as Chelsea manager (PA)

“Time will tell,” Alonso said. “ What I'm sure is that we have the ambition to win a lot of games, to be competitive. We need to take important decisions. We need to build strong principles and strong mentality and culture in the club. And time will tell.

“I'm not going to say what will happen in May. For me, it's absolutely too early to say that, but I'm confident, I'm optimistic to think that we can have a great season.”

Chelsea’s acquisition of Alonso seems an absolute coup, snapping up probably the hottest property on the managerial market. His ill-fated spell at the Santiago Bernabeu should not cloud to astounding things he achieved at Bayer Leverkusen, going invincible to end Bayern Munich’s reign of terror over the Bundesliga. One more win in Dublin and he’d have pulled off an unprecedented unbeaten treble, only for Atalanta to spoil that party in the Europa League final.

Instead, it’s more a question of what Alonso saw in Chelsea rather than vice versa, with bubbling fan mutiny against BlueCo hardly acting as the best advert for his new employers.

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Fan anger towards the Chelsea ownership can’t have been the best job advert for Alonso (PA)

“I think that it was, when we started talking, it was a good moment, a good opportunity to come,” Alonso explained. “I don't think that we are that far to creating a good team, to competing in any game and to win a lot of games. Honestly, I think that.

“For sure last year, some things happened. I positively think that we can do much better, change a few things for sure, updating and reinforcing in some positions.

“If we get the right balance and the right decisions, we can have a good season. I'm optimistic and really believe it. I don't think that we need to change everything. It's about changing a few things and that can work.”

There are signs that Alonso will be unleashed to a greater extent than his predecessors. He arrives as a manager rather than a head coach - he’ll be more hands on with the day-to-day, rather than just on-pitch matters.

He’s crucially involved in transfer policy, working alongside Chelsea’s five sporting directors. It’s a hierarchal structure that often raises eyebrows, especially given Chelsea’s poor transfer hit-rate under BlueCo - but Alonso so far finds the setup harmonious.

“It works really well,” he said. “I have been in very close contact. We are all aligned on decisions, we analyse what we want, how we want to achieve it and once we determine this is the way, then we try to execute it. It's not that different for me, because I feel involved in making the right decisions and we try to make it together.”

Alonso refused to comment on a potential reunion with Granit Xhaka, with Sunderland confident they can withstand Chelsea’s advances. “Regarding players that are not in the building and rumours, I know you love them, but it's not right for me to comment on those things,” the Spaniard asserted, though he did recognise the need for activity in the market, with Chelsea yet to make a move for a player over 21. “There’s a good team but we need to make a few signings and reinforce the squad for sure.”

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Alonso did not comment on Chelsea’s pursuit of Granit Xhaka but recognises the need for players (PA Wire)

He was coy over which positions he was targeting, and while the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Alejandro Garnacho may follow Marc Cucurella and, as of three hours before his press conference at Stamford Bridge, Andrey Santos out the door, Alonso is out to have a squad “good enough to compete for every game” at his disposal by the campaign’s start on 24 August - things may move quickly.

His first Premier League season in 18 years on the very near horizon, it once looked written in stars that this comeback would be for Liverpool, where he became a legend during his playing days. Instead, the Reds are now managed by another tactician from the Basque Country in Andoni Iraola. Both enter debut terms, harbouring dreams of emulating the title-winning exploits of a third Countryman, Mikel Arteta - who Alonso grew up with.

“Mikel has become a great, great manager, and now they are the current champions,” Alonso said. “So it's going to be a big challenge against him, against Unai [Emery], against Andoni. We are from the same region, so it's quite special.”

There is obvious inspiration he can take from his childhood friend, but the reality is that he is under a much less forgiving regime to the Arsenal boss. No Chelsea owner since 2003 would have accepted three consecutive second-place finishes without at least another piece of silverware to show for it - Carlo Ancelotti was infamously axed after one, a year after a league and cup double. Alonso will inevitably be under pressure to succeed quickly, as is the status quo at Stamford Bridge.