After a year of off-pitch messiness ended with a poor tenth-placed league finish, Chelsea have impressively found a way to attract Xabi Alonso to the Stamford Bridge dugout.
Determined to prove himself after last season’s reign at Real Madrid quickly unravelled, the former Spain international is hoping it was merely a blip in his promising managerial career.
Let’s see what the 44-year-old’s arrival could mean for Fantasy Premier League (FPL) managers.
CAREER SO FAR
What will bring immediate respect from the Chelsea squad is Alonso’s playing career. A winner of one World Cup, two European Championships, two Champions Leagues and four league titles.
Capped 114 times by Spain, many will remember his years at Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. A deep-lying playmaker, with a great collection of long, accurate diagonal passes, and goals from inside his own half.
| PLAYED | WINS | DRAWS | LOSSES | POINTS | POINTS PER MATCH | LEAGUE POSITION | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | Real Madrid | La Liga | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 45 | 2.37 | 2nd (after GW19) |
| 2024/25 | Bayer Leverkusen | German Bundesliga | 34 | 19 | 12 | 3 | 69 | 2.03 | 2nd |
| 2023/24 | Bayer Leverkusen | German Bundesliga | 34 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 90 | 2.65 | 1st |
| 2022/23 | Bayer Leverkusen | German Bundesliga | 26 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 45 | 1.73 | 6th |
Above: Xabi Alonso’s league record as a manager
In management, he began at Real Sociedad B. They were guided to promotion in his second season, though he soon left in search of the perfect first-team project.
He joined Bayer Leverkusen in October 2022, quickly taking them from the relegation zone to sixth place and a Europa League semi-final.
However, Alonso oversaw something extraordinary in 2023/24. Not only did Leverkusen win the DFB-Pokal and a first-ever Bundesliga title – including separate ten-game and eight-game winning streaks – but only a Europa League final loss to Atalanta prevented the whole 53-match season being an unbeaten treble.
Instead of leaving on a high, he kept the big names (Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Jonathan Tah, Alex Grimaldo) and gave it one more year. Naturally, Leverkusen dropped off slightly, but still came second.
Then came the setback. He became Real Madrid’s head coach in time for the Club World Cup and won the opening six La Liga matches, but a 5-2 derby loss to Atletico caused damage. Despite a 71% win rate across all competitions and being within reach of Barcelona, Alonso departed in January.
Simply put, managing Real Madrid is only partly about the football. Too much tension built up, having to cope with the powerful Florentino Perez and a notoriously difficult dressing room of egos that don’t want to be told how to play. Such as Vinicius Junior, who reacted petulantly to being substituted during a win over Barcelona.
So, after a break to recharge his batteries, Alonso now gets to join fellow Basque managers Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Andoni Iraola in the Premier League.
PREFERRED TACTICS
Not wedded to one system, Alonso generally likes to have five players on his last line of attack. He experimented with a few different shapes at Real, looking to achieve this in a balanced way.
Yet his favoured formation should still be the 3-4-2-1, used to great success at Leverkusen. It features a ‘box’ midfield and extremely attacking wing-backs, where Frimpong and Grimaldo combined for 19 league goals and 20 assists throughout 2023/24. It brings memories of Antonio Conte’s time in west London.
Alonso likes a high line and high turnovers, while dominating possession via small-space clusters that try to lure an opponent, therefore opening space in key areas. Should the ball then be lost, it ensures there are plenty around to press aggressively and recover it.
Chelsea’s players are accustomed to using a three-man defence when in possession, as Enzo Maresca often inverted a full-back into central midfield.
SHOULD FPL MANAGERS INVEST?
Truth be told, Chelsea became a pain for last season’s FPL managers. Second by the end of Gameweek 12, one win from nine had them eighth after Gameweek 21. The infamous Liam Rosenior months actually featured four consecutive victories, before one in 11. They were minutes away from reaching six matches without a goal.
Remembering that, our Fixture Ticker believes Chelsea can easily be avoided for the difficult first three outings.
Instead, our ‘jump on jump off’ article points out a good fixture run between Gameweeks 4 and 13.
One potentially important factor is that the club are seemingly acknowledging that their transfer model isn’t working. It’s quite telling that they’ve convinced Alonso to come, knowing he’d demand some control in this area after how things unravelled at Real.
Calling him ‘manager’ rather than ‘head coach’ suggests he’ll be allowed to form a fluent team of his choosing, prioritising trophies over the stockpiling of young players.
If FPL managers allow the Blues some time to form an identity, their talents could eventually be worth owning.
