Xabi Alonso has launched a new chapter in his career at Chelsea, where he benefits from a unique role offering him a real influence on recruitment. With the arrivals of Marc Cucurella, Ibrahima Konaté, Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries and now Valentín Barco, the Blues have already invested nearly 388 million euros in the market. An ambitious project which quickly won over the Spanish technician. In an interview given to The Athleticthe former Real Madrid coach looked back on his time in the Spanish capital, which he considers an essential step in his career despite its outcome.
“Luckily, I don’t have many scars in my career. I have one, but it’s healing. Now that it is healed, I am very motivated and determined to enjoy this new stage as I did when I started in Madrid.”he explains. The Spaniard also admits to having learned a lot from this experience: “Looking back, I focus on the positives and analyze what went wrong. I have been very self-critical, thinking about what I could have done better. We learn from our disappointments, from failures, and we try to convince ourselves that the future will always be better”.
Xabi Alonso admits his mistakes
“The adaptation I had to make, the things that worked and those that didn’t work, both in terms of the game itself and the management of the team”he added. Xabi Alonso assures that he has regained all his energy before embarking on this new adventure: “It is essential to transmit this passion and enthusiasm for the game in every training session. I mainly used this time for myself… I disconnected and I didn’t watch much football”he confides.
And after speaking about his time at Real Madrid, the 44-year-old technician explained the reasons for his choice to join Chelsea: “This is a team that has been playing very well lately, and the situation wasn’t as bad as it seemed at the end of last season. There is great potential for improvement, and we will see how long it takes us to achieve it”he believes. “If we had had different points of view, the starting point probably would not have been the right one”. Xabi Alonso’s Premier League challenge is on.
