Xabi Alonso Confirms Reece James as Chelsea Captain, Wants Enzo Fernandez to Stay

Xabi Alonso has settled one of the first big questions of his new Chelsea reign before a ball has even been kicked in pre-season, confirming that Reece James will continue as club captain while making clear he wants Enzo Fernandez to stay at the club after months of speculation over his future.

Chelsea officially began pre-season training this week under their new head coach, who was appointed in the spring after leaving Real Madrid earlier in the year. Alonso worked with a reduced group, with both James and Fernandez still away on World Cup duty, set to face each other on Wednesday when England meet Argentina in the semi-final.

Alonso signed a four-year contract to become Chelsea manager, taking up the role on July 1 after a coaching path that ran through Real Sociedad’s B team and Bayer Leverkusen, where he won the club’s first-ever Bundesliga title without losing a match in his first full season in charge. He had been out of work after being sacked by Real Madrid in January, seven months into that job, and replaced Liam Rosenior, who was let go by Chelsea after just four months in charge.

Alonso’s own playing career gives his words extra standing inside the Chelsea dressing room. He spent 18 years as a player at Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and with Spain before retiring in 2017, winning the Champions League twice, first with Liverpool in the 2005 Istanbul final and again with Real Madrid. That playing pedigree, combined with his recent managerial success at Leverkusen, made him Chelsea’s top target once they decided to replace Rosenior.

Alonso’s move to Stamford Bridge was not a foregone conclusion. Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football earlier in the year that Liverpool remained the job Alonso really wanted, and that taking charge of a Premier League rival would make an eventual switch to Anfield harder to pull off. With Liverpool showing no sign of moving on from Arne Slot, Alonso committed to Chelsea instead.

James Keeps the Armband

James, 26, was made Chelsea captain in August 2023 after coming through the club’s academy. Injuries have interrupted his time at Stamford Bridge, but he made 39 appearances in all competitions last season before earning a place in England’s World Cup squad. Alonso wasted no time affirming his position as leader of the group.

“He can do everything,” Alonso said of James in an interview with Sky Sports News. “He can attack from inside or outside. He can deliver, he’s good at set-pieces, he has blue DNA, which is very important, and we transmit that to the whole team and new players. He’s going to be the captain.”

Fernandez’s Long Road Back to Favour

Alonso’s public backing of Enzo Fernandez carries more history behind it. The Argentina midfielder spent the closing months of last season fighting to repair his standing at Chelsea after comments he made in April about his future put him at odds with the club.

Speaking to Argentine media at a promotional event in Paris after Chelsea’s Champions League last-16 exit to Paris Saint-Germain, Fernandez said “I don’t know” when asked whether he would remain at the club the following season. Days later, while on international duty, he told a media personality that he “really like[d] Madrid,” calling it “similar to Buenos Aires,” and when asked directly if he would be willing to live there, replied: “Yes, of course.”

Then-head coach Liam Rosenior responded by dropping Fernandez for two matches, the 7-0 win over Port Vale and a fixture against Manchester City. “A line was crossed in terms of our culture. We had to make a sanction,” Rosenior said at the time. Fernandez’s agent, Javier Pastore, initially called the punishment “completely unfair,” insisting his client had never said he wanted to leave Chelsea or London and had only named Madrid after being asked which European city he would like to live in one day. Pastore also revealed that contract renewal talks, which had begun around December, had stalled over terms, adding that the plan was to meet with Chelsea again after the World Cup and explore other options if no agreement could be reached. Both Fernandez and Pastore later apologised to the club, and Rosenior confirmed the pair were “in a very good place” following a one-to-one conversation.

Three months on, with Rosenior gone and Alonso in charge, the tone from the club has shifted from damage control to endorsement. Real Madrid, once the destination Fernandez said he would welcome, have now publicly denied any interest in signing him. Alonso has spoken privately with the midfielder and wants him to be part of his rebuild at Stamford Bridge.

“Enzo’s a great player and we are looking forward to having him and start working together,” Alonso said.

Fernandez signed for Chelsea from Benfica in January 2023 for £106.8m, a British transfer record at the time, and produced his best season for the club last term, scoring 10 Premier League goals and adding four assists in 36 appearances. He remains on international duty with Argentina, who face England in Atlanta on Wednesday with a place in the World Cup final at stake.

He has given Alonso extra reason to want him settled at Stamford Bridge. Fernandez scored a 92nd-minute winner against Egypt in the last 16, converting a Lautaro Martinez cross as Argentina came from two goals down to win 3-2 in one of the most dramatic matches of the tournament. It is the kind of moment his club would like to see more of once he returns to Chelsea colours for pre-season.

Garnacho’s Situation Left Open

Not every member of Alonso’s squad received the same vote of confidence. The head coach confirmed there is interest from other clubs in winger Alejandro Garnacho, who did not take part in his first training session of pre-season. Sky Sports News has previously reported that Chelsea are prepared to sell the 22-year-old for £50m this summer, with Roma among the clubs interested in signing him.

“The situation is that we have spoken with the sporting directors and there is an interest for him from other clubs,” Alonso said. “So let’s see how this develops. But hopefully, it finishes in the best possible way for all parties.”

Chelsea have also moved for Sunderland midfielder Granit Xhaka, who played under Alonso in his time at Bayer Leverkusen and is a familiar face for the new head coach as he rebuilds his midfield options alongside Fernandez.

Jackson Returns for Pre-Season Tour

Striker Nicolas Jackson, who spent last season on loan at Bayern Munich, will rejoin the squad for Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Asia. “I look forward to starting with Nico at that time,” Alonso said.

Beyond individual cases, Alonso used his first week in charge to set out his priorities rather than make predictions about how Chelsea will fare in his debut season. Asked about targets, he pointed to qualification for Europe as a minimum requirement. “For sure that’s a goal,” he said. “But to reach that goal, you need to do many right things and to be part of that process, how do we want to play, how we want to see ourselves, how we want to approach a game wherever we go. That’s my job. That’s why I am really looking forward to having the whole squad. At the moment, we have some bids, but it’s early days so far.”

He closed by pointing to the ambition he expects from everyone at the club as pre-season continues before the new campaign. “We want to be there and time will tell,” he said. “But we are ambitious and we in Chelsea need to share that energy, that ambition, as well as that hunger to want to have success.”

Alonso takes charge of a Chelsea squad that will play without European football this season after missing out on qualification, and one member of the group has already been left out of a major tournament this summer. Tuchel omitted Cole Palmer from his World Cup squad, explaining that “he was not as decisive or influential as he was in the last seasons.” Palmer will instead have a full pre-season under his new head coach before the campaign begins.

Discipline is another area Alonso inherits as an open issue. Chelsea were shown red cards eight times in the Premier League last season, double the total of the next-worst side in the division, a record that sat alongside the club’s absence from Europe this season after failing to qualify for any continental competition.

For now, Alonso’s squad remains split between Cobham and the closing stages of the World Cup, with pre-season training under way for those already back and a semi-final still to be played for those who are not. How Fernandez performs against England on Wednesday, in a match his club now hopes will end with him firmly committed to Stamford Bridge rather than eyeing an exit, adds an extra layer to a fixture that already carries a nation’s World Cup ambitions.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.

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