Ten demands Xabi Alonso should make to BlueCo to accept Chelsea job | OneFootball

Xabi Alonso has emerged as a leading candidate to tend the Stamford Bridge dumpster fire but the former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid manager needs to get a few things in writing from the BlueCo bosses before he accepts the Chelsea job.

He would much rather a return to Liverpool but Arne Slot just won’t be sacked and intolerable itchy feet could lead Alonso to – ill-advisedly – take on the Chelsea challenge.

Alonso is arguably the very last manager who should be considering said challenge and he should at the very least lay out some demands to the American venture capitalists before signing anything.

Here are 10 non-negotiables for Alonso to manage Chelsea.

Football autonomy

Todd Boehly appears to have learned from his early mistake of including the Chelsea dressing-room in stadium tours at half-time in games, to the great displeasure of Thomas Tuchel, who delivered a team talk to the 18 members of his squad and random guests including children invited into the Stamford Bridge inner sanctum by a billionaire showing off his shiny new toys. We’ve heard no such tales of late.

Quite where the line is drawn between the manager and the various lousy directors at Chelsea isn’t entirely clear. We know that the medical staff give clear direction as to which players are available and how many minutes they can play, which must be adhered to no matter the state of a game, but we’re broadly on board with that. Reece James playing for most of the season is testament to the benefit of that guidance.

But Alonso must insist he’s left to decide on the tactics, philosophy, training schedules and everything that made him successful at Bayer Leverkusen.

Transfer collaboration

We’ll come to the much-needed change to the transfer ethos and more specific market demands shortly, but having a say in all transfers is imperative.

That doesn’t mean being told by co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart that Chelsea are about to sign another unsuitable and unnecessary left winger and being asked “is that alright?” in an ‘it is alright because we’re doing it anyway’ sort of way.

And we know that times have changed and unless you’re Pep Guardiola, maybe Mikel Arteta, then transfer decisions will always be made by committee. But Alonso must insist on being in the room for those decisions, not told about deals when they’re 90% done.

New goalkeeper

Not having Robert Sanchez as a No.1 goalkeeper would admittedly be an odd element of a contract. An addendum perhaps?

But he will know as well as anyone that Chelsea and therefore he will not succeed without someone far better tending goal.

New centre-back

Enzo Maresca calling out BlueCo for failing to sign him a new centre-back when Levi Colwill suffered his ACL injury on the eve of the season was the beginning of the end for the Italian manager because a) he didn’t have good enough options at centre-back this season, and b) he broke his owner-disparagement duck.

Colwill is now back and will likely be one half of Alonso’s centre-back pairing, but Chelsea really, really need another as we could ask 10 different people who should partner him and could very nearly get 10 different answers, with Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana, Mamadou Sarr, Benoit Badiashile, Jorrel Hato, Josh Acheampong, Trevoh Chalobah, Axel Disasi and Aaron Anselmino the current entirely unconvincing options available.

Experience

It could come through that new goalkeeper or new centre-back; we would advise both. But really there needs to be an across-the-board focus on experience in the transfer market. Because while this ‘youngest squad in the Premier League’ stuff was encouraging when it was suggested these players could grow and improve together, forging relationships that other teams couldn’t hope for, but that’s made very difficult when half of the squad are sold after a year and replaced with more inexperienced players.

Far too frequently a Chelsea game ends with everyone watching thinking ‘they would have won that with better game management’, while daft mistakes and ill-discipline will feature heavily in end-of-season recriminations.

And the club can’t just expect young players to become leaders with age. They need experienced players to learn those skills from.

£200m+ transfer budget

It would tip BlueCo over the £2bn mark spent on new signings in just over four years, but that ludicrous excess doesn’t make another big summer any less necessary.

The goalkeeper and centre-back will be £50m each at least and while we can’t quite believe we’re calling for another new winger, neither Alejandro Garnacho nor Jamie Gittens have looked fit for purpose – that’s another £50m; £70m if they want a ready-made one, which should absolutely be the target.

They’ll need another striker to back up/compete with Joao Pedro as Liam Delap evidently isn’t up to it; they’ll be £40m-odd. That’s £200m before even considering the 12 players they should be offloading and – in some cases – will need replacing.

Three-year contract max

“Less money, please” is an odd stance to take in contract negotiations as if there’s no break clause like they included in Liam Rosenior’s six-year deal then Alonso would essentially be doing himself out of hefty compensation.

It’s worth saying that at the going BlueCo rate he’s very unlikely to make it to three years in any case, but assuming he does his reputation will at the very least still be intact and will likely have been enhanced after surviving the Chelsea madness for that long.

There’s only so much disorder a guy can take though and even a best-case scenario of a major title as Chelsea manager may not prevent his desire for change and the opportunity to take another top job as a free agent.

Extensions will always arrive if things are going well and Alonso should be reticent to sign a contract which will see him tied to work under a set of owners who are hampering the progression of their club.

Relegation clause

We’re only half joking. Chances are Alonso would be sacked long before relegation became a reality if his appointment expedites their Premier League slide, but who knows which financial infractions these Chelsea chiefs have made or will make to bring about points deductions in the future?

Liverpool clause

Alonso ‘dreams’ of managing Liverpool. He’s presumably been kicking himself for at least the last four months having been given the boot by Real Madrid, and very possibly while in situ at the Bernabeu as he experienced that mess of a football club first hand, that he didn’t return to Anfield direct from Leverkusen.

He will currently be weighing up whether a move to Chelsea ruins his chances of ever managing Liverpool, but assuming it doesn’t he should ensure there’s a way out to fulfil what he evidently believes to be his destiny.

It will be a cold day in hell when Chelsea allow Liverpool to poach their manager without a release clause ensuring it’s a possibility. BlueCo are very, very unlikely to agree to such terms, but they could come to a gentleman’s agreement that they will sit down with Liverpool if they come calling, perhaps after a specified point in his contract or after certain strides have been made or titles won.

Public appearances from the higher-ups

It should be a demand made by all managers, whom club directors and owners consistently hide behind and are forced to field questions about any manner of topics, often not within their remit.

If there’s fan anger about ticket prices, the owners should be fronting up to explain themselves. If the club has bought a whole lot of dross for the manager to work with, why are the recruitment team not rolled out to be interrogated?

If Alonso gets his tactics or team selection wrong, then he should face the music, but it’s high time that the people actually making bad decisions face the consequences of those bad decisions.