Xabi Alonso may just have made a big mistake - but he didn't have much choice

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Liverpool fans have an affinity with Xabi Alonso but he is coming back to the Premier League with Chelsea this summer — as much as anything because his other choices are so limited11:31, 13 May 2026Updated 09:20, 17 May 2026Xabi Alonso during his spell at Real Madrid.(Image: Ricardo Larreina/Europa Press via Getty Images)It is official: Xabi Alonso is returning to the Premier League. And yet, he has just made a surprise move this summer as he looks to get back behind the wheel.In taking the Chelsea job, Alonso is taking a massive risk.The Blueco model involves a lack of input in certain crucial elements of running the team, and the transfer model — including handing out eight and nine-year contracts — looks ill-advised to put it mildly."Let's say if you go to Madrid and you get the sack after six or eight months, then maybe you move to Chelsea, it's not going well, you get the sack again..." Bolo Zenden warned last week."Those are not just scratches.

They are scars, and it might harm your managerial career."Former Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso.(Image: Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)It is a fair point, and there would be a chance that going to Chelsea could backfire spectacularly, but there is a flip side too. Where else in Europe was Alonso going to go?Having already won the league with Bayer Leverkusen, there would be little point in going to Bayern Munich.

In any case, Vincent Kompany is not going anywhere right now.In Spain, Alonso has already been at Real Madrid; it is therefore hard to see him going to either Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, and neither is on the hunt for a new manager anyway.At PSG, there is no reason for Luis Enrique to move on. Quite simply, Chelsea was the only one left.Does this move make it harder for Alonso to become Liverpool boss at some point down the line?