To think less than six months ago, Estevao Willian was asking Liam Rosenior whether he really used to play professional football after a wonky first touch on the touchline away at Arsenal.
This last week, Estevao was scoring a goal in training assisted by Xabi Alonso, with the new Blues boss sporting adidas predators on the pitch as he nonchalantly performed keepie-uppies before setting up the 19-year-old Brazilian to head home.
We can imagine the conversations as Chelsea’s players all convened on Cobham, told to turn up for 9am on day one last Thursday. How was your summer? Get much rest? How’s the family? Go anywhere nice? Watched the World Cup? Heard anything about the new boss?
While in keeping with his ‘cold’ reputation, less predictable might have been Cole Palmer turning up with ice. Literally, two packs of ‘COLE’D’ cubes. The 24-year-old Englishman has launched his own range of premium ice for sale – £4 for four pieces shaped like footballs – and could not resist a good photo op after parking up at Cobham.
Alonso might not have minded Palmer being excluded from Thomas Tuchel’s England squad too much. Chelsea’s playmaker could do with the downtime, a chance to rest and reset after three back-to-back seasons without a true summer break. They have had a couple of conversations on the training pitch, though it sounds as if Alonso has not been hauling players into his office as much as his predecessor Rosenior, who loved a one-on-one meeting.
Chelsea are excited by the arrival of Alonso. Understandably so, because he is as big a name as they could have hired this summer. The club’s content team had to work double-quick time to turn around their footage this week, and Alonso was a good sport throughout it all.
Xabi Alonso has completed his first week at Chelsea, putting the players through their paces at Cobham ahead of the club’s pre-season tour
Chelsea are excited by the arrival of Alonso. Understandably so, because he is as big a name as they could have hired this summer
Cole Palmer turned up for training with two packs of ‘COLE’D’ ice cubes after launching his own range of premium ice
Photographed holding up the Chelsea shirt, signing a pretend contract, and sitting in the stand by the training pitch. Filmed penning his autograph on an acrylic sheet, sending a message to the supporters for social media, and for a walking interview with the club’s presenter, a lovely chap called Lee Parker. Alonso had a great deal to get through on day one.
A few Chelsea fans were giddy when it appeared as if Mykhailo Mudryk was standing in the background of one gym-session video, despite the FA having handed him the maximum punishment of a four-year ban for violating their anti-doping rules.
Mudryk has been in London – a tennis fan, Daily Mail Sport bumped into the 25-year-old Ukrainian at Wimbledon, suitably dressed all in white – but we are still awaiting the date of his hearing after he appealed his ban with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. While the likeness was uncanny, it was not Mudryk in that clip. It was Filip Jorgensen, the goalkeeper who is for sale this summer.
Jorgensen is training until told otherwise, and his involvement is a good sign. It would suggest Chelsea have resisted the urge to create a ‘bomb squad’ as of yet. As Daily Mail Sport reported last week, Alejandro Garnacho has not been at Cobham, after he and the club agreed he should leave after a single season. Chelsea spent £40million to sign him from Manchester United last summer, and they are now prioritising the clean separation of a permanent sale over a loan with an option or obligation.
Palmer, along with Joao Pedro, Wesley Fofana, Levi Colwill and so on, were put through the usual fitness tests last Thursday while Alonso performed his media duties in the morning.
Then arrived the real work for Alonso. Training in the afternoon involved immediate ball work, such as small-sided games and finishing drills, and academy players participating such as Olutayo Subuloye, Reggie Watson, Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and Landon Emenalo in the absence of World Cup representatives.
There was also Reggie Walsh, the 17-year-old who has added muscle since we last saw him. Walsh won the obligatory bleep test – followed by Palmer and Estevao in a positive sign after their injury issues – and the teenager’s family are confident he is ready to step up and help the first team this season.
Alonso has already studied the data, including how Chelsea were outrun by their opponents in all but one of their Premier League matches last season – a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield being the outlier – and covered the lowest total distance out of all 20 clubs. When Bayer Leverkusen won the Bundesliga under Alonso in 2023-24, only Hoffenheim ran further than the German title winners.
On day one, Alonso fulfilled all his in-house media duties including ‘signing his new contract’
Alonso knows that Chelsea were outrun by their opponents in all but one of their Premier League matches last season – and will work on improving his players’ fitness
Improving the physicality of Chelsea’s players is one area for improvement, and Alonso has inherited hungry youngsters. Dastan Satpayev, 17, Emmanuel Emegha, 23, and Geovany Quenda, 19, have all been involved after arriving at Chelsea on pre-agreements from Kairat, Strasbourg and Sporting CP respectively.
In Satpayev’s case, Chelsea asked Kairat for special permission to release him early so that he could be assessed by Alonso, and it was granted by the Kazakhstani side, whose owner, Qairat Boranbaev, has been at Cobham.
Those who have been away at the 2026 World Cup will return once they have completed their customary three weeks of downtime – unless they choose to cut it short, of course.
Nicolas Jackson is scheduled to join while Chelsea are on their pre-season tour of Australia and Asia with Alonso wanting to take a closer look at the 25-year-old striker. It is believed the same plan is in place for Moises Caicedo so that he too can begin working with his new manager.
Enzo Fernandez has reached the World Cup final with Argentina and so the calendar tells us the £120m-valued midfielder is due to miss their pre-season abroad, if indeed he stays.
While Fernandez is preparing to play Spain in front of 80,000 at the MetLife Stadium near New York, his Chelsea team-mates at Cobham have been prepping for behind-closed-doors friendlies versus Crawley and Bromley, with those private fixtures scheduled for this Saturday and Thursday and to be watched only by the clubs’ coaching staff.
After that, Alonso and his squad are due to arrive in Sydney, Australia, at the weekend for a tour in which they will rack up the air miles. They will head from Sydney (for friendlies versus Western Sydney Wanderers on July 28 and Tottenham Hotspur on August 1) to Hong Kong (Juventus, August 5) to Jakarta (AC Milan, August 8) to Malaysia (Johor Darul Ta’zim, August 9).
It has been a busy time for Chelsea’s owners BlueCo. They had to find a new head coach for their sister side Strasbourg, too. They chose Hugo Oliveira, the former assistant to Marco Silva in the Premier League and most recently the manager of Famalicao in Portugal.
The afternoon of Alonso’s first day of training involved ball work, such as small-sided games and finishing drills
Enzo Fernandez has reached the World Cup final with Argentina and so the £120m-valued midfielder is due to miss Chelsea’s pre-season abroad, if indeed he stays
BlueCo sources are pleased with that one. They tell us he is one of the most exciting emerging coaches in world football, recognised for a philosophy of playing on the front foot, and that he was wanted by several clubs across Europe.
They are thrilled to have acquired Alonso, too. The 44-year-old Spaniard has been continuing to liaise with Chelsea’s sporting directors, and it is slightly easier now that he is in the building.
Before his July 1 start date, he had been working from Spain, including sanctioning Marc Cucurella’s £51.8m sale to Real Madrid, speaking to Fernandez about staying, and schmoozing transfer targets such as Marco Palestra, the 21-year-old who joined from Atalanta for £47m.
There has been the odd day off for the squad – Joao Pedro used one to take in the Wimbledon men’s final between Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev – but otherwise, Alonso has been getting to work. The primary goal throughout it all is to return Chelsea to the Champions League in his first season in charge.
