Xabi Alonso refused to confirm Chelsea are pursuing veterans Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson after his first match in charge, a 6-4 pre-season win over Western Sydney Wanderers, but hinted at a shift towards experience.
“I’m sure that from today to the last day of the transfer [window] there will be a lot of links, a lot of rumours,” Alonso said. “But for sure, we need proper balance in terms of qualities, in terms of positions, in terms of balance. We want to have a complete squad and we want to make a good team.”
“Xabi Alonso refuses to confirm veteran signings as Chelsea shift from youth to experience after 10th-placed finish.”
The links to Welbeck, 35, and Henderson, 36, represent a sharp departure from Chelsea’s recent policy of signing young players on long contracts. According to sources, Chelsea are in talks over a surprise move for the Brighton striker and are also interested in the Brentford midfielder. The club is also targeting Crystal Palace defender Maxence Lacroix, 26, for £52m – notably older than any player signed by Chelsea in the past two years, since Tosin Adarabioyo arrived just before turning 27.
Welbeck’s potential arrival could displace 23-year-old Liam Delap, who was considered one of the Premier League’s most exciting young strikers when signed from Ipswich last year. Chelsea finished 10th last season, having underdelivered with their youth-centric approach. The Mirror noted that such veteran moves have worked before – citing Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 28-goal season at Manchester United and Gary McAllister’s role in Liverpool’s 2001 treble.
Earlier expensive experiments with experienced players failed spectacularly: Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all left within 18 months after costing over £90m in 2022. Alonso fielded a youthful side against the Wanderers, with 17-year-old triallist Dastan Satpayev opening the scoring. But it was João Pedro, a £60m signing from Brighton last year, who stole the show with a nine-minute hat-trick off the bench. “Very hungry,” Alonso said of the Brazilian. “He wants to keep scoring more and more.”
Whether Alonso can repeat the success of Ibrahimovic and McAllister – or avoid the fate of Sterling and Aubameyang – remains to be seen.