Chelsea are preparing to accelerate their pursuit of Xabi Alonso immediately after the FA Cup final, sources say. Reports indicate the club will switch its full focus to securing Alonso as soon as the showpiece match is over, with negotiations already under way between Chelsea and Alonso to align on the respective vision for the role.<\/p>\n
A deal could be struck \u201cwithin days\u201d of the FA Cup final, according to the reporting. Chelsea expect to offer the incoming manager a larger role in recruitment than previous occupants of the post. The club are understood to want Alonso to have input in targeting a small group of ready-made players rather than relying on a continued stream of inexperienced youngsters.<\/p>\n
There have been suggestions Alonso might wait for a Liverpool offer, amid questions over Arne Slot\u2019s status following a disappointing defence of the Premier League title. Slot\u2019s situation is described as under increasing pressure after a run that has seen him oversee 20 defeats across all competitions.<\/p>\n
Fabrizio Romano, however, reports Liverpool remain determined to stick by Slot, which would free Chelsea to press ahead with Alonso as their primary managerial target. Liverpool are also not yet certain of Champions League qualification and must beat Brentford on the final day to guarantee a place. Both Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion could still leapfrog Slot\u2019s side in the table.<\/p>\n
There have been no suggestions Slot would be dismissed if Liverpool fail to qualify, but observers note the additional scrutiny he would face in that event. Chelsea appear set to move quickly if the opportunity presents itself, with talks continuing and a clear timeline now in place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea to press for Xabi Alonso after FA Cup final; talks ongoing and a deal \u201cwithin days\u201d. discuss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13842,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,1397],"tags":[983,299,1685],"class_list":["post-13843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-transfer-news","tag-agents","tag-arne-slot","tag-manager-target"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}