LONDON (AP) — Xabi Alonso to be named chelsea He resigned as manager after reaching an agreement with the Premier League club, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because personnel matters have not been made public.
alonso He held talks with Chelsea last week and is expected to sign a four-year contract.
It will be the Spaniard’s first job since that last stint. 8 months at Real Madrid. Alonso left Madrid by mutual consent in January following poor results and widespread media reports that he had lost control of the dressing room.
Despite his brief spell at the Bernabeu Stadium, Alonso’s reputation remained high across Europe after leading Bayer Leverkusen to a German league and German Cup double and overcoming Bayern Munich’s dominance in the Bundesliga.
Chelsea have been looking for a new manager since sacking Liam Rosenior last month.
Rosseniol is the second manager to be sacked since the start of the year, following Club World Cup winner Enzo Maresca’s departure in January.
Alonso will be Chelsea’s fifth permanent manager since American owners Todd Boley and Clearlake Capital bought the club in 2022.
After sacking Champions League winner Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea brought in Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Maresca and Rossenyol in search of a manager who could bring them sustained success.
Club icon Frank Lampard has been given an interim role, with current interim Callum MacFarlane in his second year in charge of the first team this season.
Chelsea have yet to challenge for the Premier League title under American ownership, despite spending more than $1 billion on new players. However, they also won last year’s Club World Cup and UEFA Conference League.
This season looks like they will miss out on qualifying for the Champions League for the third time in four seasons. They also lost to Manchester City, meaning they will end the season without a trophy. FA Cup Final Saturday.
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James Robson is https://x.com/James Saran Robson
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AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
