Xabi Alonso's Chelsea Debut: João Pedro Shines in 6-4 Win
Xabi Alonso walked into Chelsea life with 10 goals, a flurry of teenagers and two transfer rumours he had no intention of feeding.
His first game in charge, a chaotic 6-4 pre-season win over Western Sydney Wanderers at the Accor Stadium, offered more storylines than most managers would want in a debut. But when the talk turned to Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, Alonso stayed firmly on script.
Chelsea are in discussions over a surprise move for the 35-year-old Welbeck from Brighton, with the club also interested in 36-year-old Henderson at Brentford. Two seasoned Premier League campaigners, two names that cut across the club’s recent obsession with youth and resale value.
Alonso would not bite.
“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,” he 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 message was clear enough. Experience is back on the agenda at Stamford Bridge.
Youthful XI, chaotic contest
On the pitch, Alonso started with a side that underlined how young this Chelsea squad still is. Liam Delap and Tosin Adarabioyo were the senior figures in a starting XI that looked more like an academy showcase than the opening act of a new era.
The kids did not wait around.
After six minutes, 17-year-old Dastan Satpayev – still only a trialist and yet to sign officially for the club – burst into the story. A sharp, defence-splitting pass from fellow teenager Ryan Kavuma-McQueen sliced open the Wanderers back line, and Satpayev thrashed his finish in at the near post. One pass, one ruthless strike, a glimpse of what Chelsea’s scouting network believes it has unearthed in Kazakhstan.
At the other end, the picture was less flattering. Chelsea’s back four laboured against a lively Wanderers front line, repeatedly undone by simple deliveries. Set pieces, in particular, were a problem. Brandon Borrello and Anthony Pantazopoulos both rose too easily from a corner, Pantazopoulos heading in at the back post and offering a blunt early assessment of the work awaiting Austin MacPhee, the Aston Villa set-piece specialist reported to be joining Alonso’s staff.
The Wanderers, who finished bottom of their domestic league last season but looked anything but timid here, took the lead through Aydan Hammond. Chelsea hit back with a lovely finish from Portuguese midfielder Dário Essugo to make it 2-2 at the break. Open, loose, entertaining – and not exactly the controlled platform a new manager usually craves.
The second half only cranked the chaos higher. Left-back Landon Emenalo impressed going forward, but his attempted clearance ricocheted cruelly into the path of Dylan Scicluna, who restored the Sydney side’s advantage at 3-2. Alonso turned to his bench.
That changed everything.
João Pedro takes over
On came the stars. Cole Palmer stepped into the game. João Pedro followed. The Brazilian, who scored 20 goals in an excellent first season after his £60m move from Brighton, had been left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s World Cup squad. He played here as if that snub still burned.
First, he rolled defenders on the edge of the box and pulled the ball back for Jamie Gittens, who finished from close range to drag Chelsea level again. Then the game swung one more time.
Estêvão Willian, another of Chelsea’s bright young things, was caught in possession on the edge of his own area. Awan Lual seized the chance, sliding the ball through Robert Sánchez’s legs to put the Wanderers 4-3 ahead. It felt, briefly, like the Premier League giants might be embarrassed by a side still in their own pre-season and coming off a wretched domestic campaign.
Chelsea’s response was ruthless. João Pedro took charge.
He found pockets of space, slowed the game when he wanted, then exploded at goal. Two composed finishes in five minutes turned a deficit into a 5-4 lead, his movement too sharp and his confidence too obvious for tiring defenders. When a corner caused mayhem in the box, he was there again, scrambling the ball over the line to complete a nine-minute hat-trick and seal a wild 6-4 victory.
Very few players can walk into a pre-season friendly and bend it entirely to their will. João Pedro did exactly that.
Alonso, asked about the forward’s mindset heading into the new campaign, did not hesitate. “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.”
On this evidence, nothing about last season looked like a ceiling.
Delap’s frustration amid the fireworks
If João Pedro’s night crackled, Delap’s simmered. The 23-year-old, regularly linked with a move away from west London, worked hard, found good positions and went close twice. The net, though, refused him.
It felt like a continuation of a familiar story: plenty of endeavour, not enough reward. Yet Alonso struck a positive note on the striker’s application since returning from the summer break.
“I see him in a good mood, in a good desire to get proper fitness, proper football, feeling good and he’s doing great,” the manager said.
That was the other thread of the evening. For every polished touch from João Pedro or smooth burst from Emenalo, there was a reminder that this squad remains a blend of raw prospects and players still trying to prove they belong in Alonso’s plans.
Chelsea eventually overpowered a Wanderers team that could not hold any of their three leads. The scoreline – the same 6-4 as England’s third-place playoff win over France at the World Cup – underlined the spectacle. The defending underlined the work still to come.
Alonso wants “proper balance” in his squad. The club is exploring moves for Welbeck and Henderson to help provide it. On a wild night in Sydney, the future looked bright, erratic and hugely entertaining. The question now is simple: how quickly can Alonso turn all that promise and noise into something that looks like a team built to last?
