Chelsea ready to hire “genius” Iraola upgrade

Chelsea have endured another frustrating season under BlueCo’s rule, with Champions League football unlikely. However, the Blues are into the FA Cup final, where Manchester City await.

Still, Chelsea need to improve next season, and after several choppy years, laden with silverware but also instability, a project manager needs to be put in the Stamford Bridge dugout this summer, someone who can lead the club forward over a number of years.

Calum McFarlane will achieve cult status if he guides the Londoners to FA Cup glory this month, but he is not the man for the long-term job.

Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali have already identified a number of candidates, with one standing out above all others.

Who Chelsea want to appoint this summer

Chelsea have already compiled a lengthy list of managerial candidates ahead of the summer. Even if the Stamford Bridge side fail to secure a place in the Champions League, they are one of the most desirable clubs in the world.

Perhaps Andoni Iraola would be keen. The outgoing Bournemouth boss has done fantastic work at the Vitality Stadium over the past few years, and while he is on the shortlist, Manchester United are also interested.

Chelsea cannot get this appointment wrong, not after so many ups and downs in recent years.

According to Chelsea insider Simon Phillips, Chelsea have identified Xabi Alonso as the perfect manager to lead the club forward, and after initial contacts with the unemployed coach’s representatives, are waiting to see if he would be interested in taking the job this summer.

Alonso, by the by, shares the same agent as Iraola, which could increase Chelsea’s chances of hiring him.

Though Alonso has considered a return to Anfield as his first-choice option, Liverpool appear intent on sticking with the under-fire Arne Slot, leaving Chelsea with an opening to appoint one of the most coveted young managers in the world.

Why Alonso would be the perfect Chelsea manager

Alonso, 43, didn’t enjoy the happiest stint at Real Madrid earlier this season, but Los Blancos’ problems run far deeper than simply who is in the dugout, and his past work with Bayer Leverkusen underscores his potential as one of the world’s most talented coaches.

Bringing a cerebral approach to the table, Alonso is only young, but he has already accomplished much after hanging up the boots, taking Bayer Leverkusen to an unprecedented domestic double, winning the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal undefeated.

Invincible. The Spanish legend has a wealth of experience in the Premier League with Liverpool during his playing days, and his expansive, flowing tactical style could see him dovetail right into a Chelsea squad who have already become accustomed to such football under Enzo Maresca.

Crucially, Alonso succeeded in knitting Leverkusen’s squad together and imbuing them with a deep tactical understanding of his system. His title-winning triumph only embellishes a managerial quality that puts him right alongside football’s elite. According to content creator James Allcott, he is a “genius tactical mind“.

While someone like Iraola has spent the past several years in the Premier League, taking Bournemouth away from their pragmatic routes and toward a platform at the top-end of the division, Alonso may still be a cut above, with the wealth of experience required to take on the magnitude of a role in the Chelsea dugout.

And though his is a one-of-a-kind formation, the west Londoners have embraced free-thinking approaches in the past.

Chelsea, after all, are no strangers to a three-man defence, having won the Premier League in the rogue tactical set-up under Antonio Conte’s wing.

Alonso might not have the managerial expertise in the Premier League that Iraola has built up on the south coast, but he knows the division well and has fresh coaching qualities that might just align with Chelsea’s long-term vision: returning to the top of the European ladder and dominating there for many years to come.