Xabi Alonso explains why he signed for Chelsea despite Liverpool links | OneFootball

Spaniard had been widely tipped to return to club where he won Champions League as a player

Xabi Alonso said his decision to sign for Chelsea came down to “timings”.

The Spaniard was confirmed as Liam Rosenior’s successor in May and was unveiled at Stamford Bridge on Monday afternoon, having taken his first training sessions at Cobham last week.

Before choosing to move to west London, though, he had been widely linked with taking over at Liverpool, with rumours conflating Arne Slot’s struggles to get the Reds on form and the fact Alonso spent five decorated years at Anfield as a player.

Despite being a free agent since January, Alonso is not thought to have held talks with Liverpool ahead of signing with Chelsea, and Slot did not leave the club until long after his move to Stamford Bridge had been confirmed. Slot was ultimately replaced by former Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola.

“I am here today on my first day at Stamford Bridge, talking to you. I am looking forward to this challenge, a big challenge, and Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs and I am looking forward to having success here.”

Alonso will soon embark on a lengthy pre-season tour of Asia and Oceania, after which he will face a rare season without European football. Chelsea missed out on qualification for the Conference League by a single point.

Speaking at his unveiling, though, he set his sights on getting the club back into continental competition.

He added: “Well, for sure that's a goal, but to reach that goal you need to do many right things and to be part of that process, how we want to play, how we want to see ourselves and how we want to approach the game, wherever we go, that's my job.

“That's what I'm really looking forward to. We have not the whole squad at the moment, we have some bits, but early days and happy early days so far.

“For sure we want to be there and time will tell, but we are ambitious to be in Chelsea, we need to share that energy, that ambition and as well that hunger to want to have success.”