Xabi Alonso refused to confirm Chelsea are interested in signing the veterans Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson after his first game in charge of the team, a 6-4 pre-season victory against Western Sydney Wanderers on Tuesday, but said he was looking to build a squad that had “proper balance”.
Chelsea are understood to be in talks over a surprise move to sign the 35-year-old Welbeck from Brighton, with the club also reportedly interested in signing the 36-year-old Henderson from Brentford. The links to two Premier League stalwarts reflects a revised transfer strategy under Alonso, with Chelsea seeking to recruit more experienced players into their squad as opposed to be solely focused on signing young players, often tying them to lengthy contracts.
“I’m sure that from today to the last day of the transfer [window] there will be a lot of links, a lot of rumours, so to be commenting on all of them, it’s going to be a hard task,” Alonso said. “But for sure, we need proper balance in terms of qualities, in terms of positions, in terms of balance. We want to have a complete squad and we want to make a good team.”
The new Chelsea manager fielded a youthful side at the Accor Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush, with Liam Delap and Tosin Adarabioyo the most experienced members of the starting lineup. Alonso waited until the 63rd minute to bring on a host of star names, including Cole Palmer and João Pedro. The Brazilian forward, who missed out on a place in Carlo Ancelotti’s World Cup squad, made a significant impact off the bench, scoring a hat-trick in just nine minutes as Chelsea took control of the game against their A-League opponents.
João Pedro scored 20 goals during an excellent debut season for Chelsea, having arrived from Brighton for £60m 12 months ago, and asked about the player’s mood before the upcoming campaign, Alonso said: “Very hungry. João is really, really determined to have a great season. He wants to, after a great last year, when he scored many goals. He wants to keep scoring more and more.”
A number of Chelsea’s youngsters showed plenty of promise, with the 17-year-old Dastan Satpayev opening the scoring after six minutes. The Kazakh forward is yet to sign officially for the club and is playing in pre-season as a triallist. His opening goal came from a defence-splitting pass from another teenager, Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, with Satpayev smashing the ball home at the near post.
Chelsea’s back four struggled in the first half against a lively Wanderers frontline and their reported new set-piece coach, Aston Villa’s Austin MacPhee, will have plenty to work on judging by the ease with which Brandon Borrello and Anthony Pantazopoulos won headers from a corner as the latter scored at the back post for the hosts.
The Wanderers took the lead through Aydan Hammond before a lovely finish from the Portuguese midfielder Dário Essugo made it 2-2 at the break. The goals kept coming in the second half when the left-back Landon Emenalo, who impressed in attack, saw his clearance deflected into the path of Dylan Scicluna who put the Sydney side 3-2 ahead. Alonso then turned to his bench and his substitutions made an immediate impact. João Pedro held off a number of challenges on the edge of the box before pulling the ball back to Jamie Gittens who fired home from close range.
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But this topsy-turvy game, which felt like England’s third-place playoff against France at the World Cup and finished with the same scoreline, provided more entertainment as the Australian side went ahead for a third time after Estêvão Willian lost possession on the edge of his own area. Awan Lual was on hand to slide the ball through Robert Sánchez’s legs to put his side 4-3 ahead.
The Wanderers, who are also in pre-season, again failed to hold on to a lead as Chelsea overpowered a team that finished bottom of their domestic league last season. João Pedro looked sharp as he showed great composure to score twice in five minutes, before scrambling home an effort from a corner to wrap up his match-winning exploits.
João Pedro’s performance was in stark contrast to Delap, who has been repeatedly linked with a move away from west London. The 23-year-old endured another frustrating evening for Chelsea, going close on two occasions but failing to find the back of the net. Assessing Delap’s attitude since returning from the summer break, Alonso said: “I see him in a good mood, in a good desire to get proper fitness, proper football, feeling good and he’s doing great.”
