Xabi Alonso: New Chelsea manager wants to keep Enzo Fernandez

Alonso entered the Drake Suite celebrating Chelsea’s league-winning managers and said it was a “privilege and honour” to lead a club with such a successful history.

He trains a large squad at Cobham, including Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro and Levi Colwill, and only eight Chelsea players are away at the World Cup.

The 44-year-old explained his reasons for joining Chelsea following the departure of Enzo Maresca in January and his successor, Liam Rosenior, was sacked less than four months later.

“The excitement is the opportunity to be at this big club, to connect with the fans, to win games and to be successful, through the club, the squad and that ownership,” he said.

“I want to enjoy it, be part of this group and work with the athletic directors, players and staff here.

“We need to make important decisions, the right decisions, but I think the foundations have already been laid.

“We have to continue to develop a mindset to be competitive on the field, win games and enjoy doing it.”

Chelsea generally aim to qualify for the Champions League every season as a minimum requirement, and when asked whether he needed to secure European football, Alonso said: “Of course it’s a goal. But to achieve that goal you need to do a lot of things right.”

“I will be part of that process. It’s my job to see how we play, how we see ourselves and how we approach every game, so I can’t wait for the whole team to be ready.

“We’ve only just started and we’ve had happy days so far, but of course we want to be there.” [in Europe].

“Time will tell but we are ambitious and to be successful at Chelsea you need to share that energy and hunger.”