Alonso and his wife, Nagore Aranburu, are in the process of finding a place to live in London. The city itself was very attractive to the couple, who love culture, film and music and have young children.
They stayed in Spain until the day before the first training session. During that time, Alonso worked remotely in the transfer business with Chelsea’s five-strong team of sporting directors, with whom he seems to have quickly built a good relationship.
It was from Spain that Alonso spoke with Marc Cucurella before moving to Real Madrid, called Enzo Fernandez to discuss his future and contacted transfer targets, including new defender Marco Palestra, to explain his project.
Alonso said he wanted Fernandez to stay at his first press conference at Stamford Bridge on Monday.
In addition, he had a fact-finding mission, which was first revealed by BBC Sport, when Alonso and his staff visited Cobham in June, before their contracts began, to meet with the staff and decide how they would fit into the team’s structure.
Last Thursday, Alonso was with the players all day but had to settle in his new office, do some housework and manage his first training session.
Training includes physical tests, exercise, small-sided games, finishing exercises and a mix of single and double sessions.
There are many young players involved, including midfielders Reggie Walsh and Landon Emenalo, midfielder Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and defender Calvin Diakite, which has added excitement to the team.
New signings Dastan Satpaev – who has a special assignment from Kairat to train before officially joining on his 18th birthday in August – Emmanuel Emegha and Geovany Quenda are also involved. Loanees Nicolas Jackson and Aaron Anselmino are also being evaluated.
The players took part in the bleep test on Monday, which was won by Walsh, whose body has improved significantly. Cole Palmer finished second after a disappointing season, while young striker Estevao Willian was third.
“He wants to be healthy,” Alonso said of Palmer, who spent most of last season with a nagging groin issue.
“He wants to put the injury hurdles behind him that he had to deal with last year. He is special and, if he is enjoying himself and in good spirits, he can be an important player for us. So far, so good.”
Regarding Estevao, he added: “We want to recognize him. So far, he feels better and is a very good player.”
Alonso’s coaching staff is full of professionals. Ismael Camenforte Lopez, described in Germany as his manager’s “footballer”, is known for feeding balls in practice matches, allowing sessions to be played at high speed.
Lopez is expected to play a significant role early on, especially in the bullpen.
Assistant coach Alberto Encinas focuses on technical development, while Sebastian ‘Sebas’ Parrilla is Alonso’s right-hand man and the most experienced member of the coaching staff. Benat Labaien combines training activities with a high-level video analysis role and is known for his use of drones and other technologies.
Alonso himself is on hand, often seen taking part in training, having been described by his former players as good enough to play the part.
The next few weeks are already mapped out. Close friendlies against Crawley Town on Saturday and Bromley next Thursday, before they fly out on their overseas pre-season tour next Friday.
They will start in Sydney, where they will face Western Sydney Wanderers and Tottenham, before moving on to Hong Kong to play Juventus, then move on to Jakarta where they will face AC Milan, and finally Malaysia will face Johor Darul Ta’zim.
It will be an arduous journey, involving significant travel and multiple time zones. However, Alonso is helped by the fact that only 8 Chelsea players participated in the World Cup, with Palmer and Joao Pedro among the notable omissions.
As a result, time spent at Cobham can prove useful in building resilience, setting standards and laying the foundations before the more detailed tactical work begins on the tour.
It is then that a clear picture of Alonso’s preferred plan should emerge. He used a back four frequently at Real Madrid, while he enjoyed his greatest success with a back five at Bayer Leverkusen.
