Could Real Madrid's Xabi Alonso join Chelsea for free?

Xabi Alonso

At Liverpool, Xabi Alonso won the hearts of nearly all Premier League fans with his majestic playing style and to some extent, his facial hair. Now at Real Madrid, both of these have matured and have elevated Alonso among the best central midfielders in world football. A fundamental part of both the Real Madrid and Spain teams, the 32-year-old has 105 international caps to his name; in the era of Spanish dominance which we are currently living through, this alone is enough to exhibit Alonso’s class.

With Frank Lampard rumoured to be departing Chelsea at the end of the season, the Blues are apparently interested in bringing Alonso to Stamford Bridge. The Daily Star recently reported that Jose Mourinho will offer the Spaniard, a former charge of his, a Chelsea contract for next season – his current deal in Madrid expires in the summer, potentially opening a door for a return to the Premier League in 2014.

Indeed, Mourinho is fully aware of Alonso’s abilities after having managed him at Real Madrid, and it is primarily the Spaniard’s incredible range of passing which endears him to the Portuguese manager once again. Alonso has this season completed an average of 90% of his passes at an average range of 20 metres – for him to be so accurate over large distances shows what an excellent distributor of the ball he is. At Chelsea, this would allow Alonso to dictate the pace of the game and control the midfield battle which is so crucial to success; as well as this, the Spaniard would be able to provide the Blues’ exciting wingers with consistently brilliant passes, as seen in the graphic below.

Whilst Alonso’s best ability is his tendency to release his side’s more pacey, dynamic players who then go on to create chances, the Spaniard does also have a creative streak in him. He has generated 13 chances for his team-mates in his six appearances this season, and only two players in the Madrid team have made more goalscoring opportunities in the matches following Alonso’s return from injury. Because of this, the ex-Liverpool man would be a great signing for Chelsea.

Alonso’s performance since his return from injury

However, defensively Alonso has not been remarkable this season; he has won only 32% of his tackles, a statistic which suggests that, whilst the Spaniard has been fantastic in attack, his defensive skills are not of the ilk which they once were – last season, he won a brilliant 79% of tackles. This may be a side-effect of the injury which Alonso returned from last month; if Mourinho can reignite the defensive skills which he witnessed last year at the Bernabeu, he would have a brilliant signing. If not, however, it may be that the Blues have to carry Alonso in defence.

Under Mourinho, Alonso solidified his position as one of the elite midfielders in world football. A reunion with the Portuguese would bring this world-class talent to the Premier League once more and, if he can evoke the form in Alonso which he witnessed in Madrid, Mourinho’s midfield would glitter on an even greater scale that it currently does.