Xabi Alonso officially starts work at Chelsea - and receives a transfer boost

Updated: 1 Jul 2026 12:31 BST | 4 min read

Matthew Judge | Editor

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Chelsea remain keen to sign Granit Xhaka despite having an opening bid worth €9.2million (£8m) rejected by Sunderland, according to The Athletic.

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Widespread reports understand the Blues are keen to add leadership to a young squad that received 11 red cards last season.

The Athletic claims Chelsea are firm admirers of Xhaka, who captained Sunderland to an incredible seventh-place Premier League finish last season.

STATS

Granit Xhaka

DM, M (C)

Sunderland

Granit Xhaka

DM, M (C)

Sunderland

36

Games
1

Goals
6

Assists

The same publication understands the pursuit is being driven by Xabi Alonso, having worked alongside Xhaka at Bayer Leverkusen.

Alonso signed Xhaka from Arsenal in 2023 and the pair helped Leverkusen win an unbeaten Bundesliga and German Cup double in 2023-24.

However, various sources understand Sunderland have rejected Chelsea’s offer out of hand, insisting their star man will not be sold this summer.

Yet The Athletic claims Chelsea are not giving up hope of signing Xhaka, though they are reluctant to overpay for an ageing player.

Xhaka, who is currently preparing for Switzerland’s World Cup clash with Algeria in the round of 32 on Friday, turns 34 in September.

Alonso officially starts work as Chelsea boss

The news that Chelsea remain in the hunt for Xhaka comes after Alonso officially started work at Stamford Bridge today (1 July).

Alonso was announced as Chelsea’s new manager in May, with the Spaniard signing a four-year contract with the club.

Chelsea have announced Alonso and the players who are not competing at the World Cup will report for pre-season training on Thursday, 9 July.

Among the first players Alonso will come into contact with at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground include Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill.

Alonso’s first game in charge of Chelsea will be against Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia on Tuesday, 28 July.

And his first Premier League match will come against west London rivals Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday, 24 August.

Chelsea publicly blame Maresca for poor 2025-26 season

Chelsea released an explosive statement on Monday which publicly blamed former manager Enzo Maresca for a “hugely disappointing” 2025-26 campaign which saw the club finish 10th in the Premier League.

The statement came a few minutes after Maresca was announced as Manchester City’s head coach for next season, with the Italian replacing Pep Guardiola on a three-year contract.

Chelsea, who did not mention Maresca by name in their statement, revealed the Italian will pay them compensation for resigning from his post in December, amid Man City’s interest in his services.

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