(Credit: Manh Tung, Breaking Media)

Ciaran Morrison

Fri 1 May 2026 12:30, UK

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Chelsea have contacted both Andoni Iraola and Xabi Alonso over their vacant managerial position, according to Keith Wyness.

The former Everton chief executive, speaking to Football Insider, reveals that Chelsea have a four-man shortlist to replace Liam Rosenior.

Both Iraola and Alonso will be available to hire in the summer, with the former announcing that he will leave Bournemouth at the end of the season.

Alonso has pedigree as manager of Bayer Leverkusen, where he won the Bundesliga, and has been out of work since departing Real Madrid in January.

Chelsea’s owners are under pressure to get this managerial appointment correct following the turbulent reign of Rosenior which lasted just 107 days.

Chelsea candidates ‘not easy managers to work with’

Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – states that Cesc Fabregas and Marco Silva are also in the running for the Chelsea job.

Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness believes the next manager at the Blues must “stand up for themselves” to sort out the mess within the club.

He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “The rumours are that they’ve already made contact with Iraola’s agent. They’re in discussions.

“But I’m also hearing that Xabi Alonso’s agent’s been contacted as well. So I don’t know if they’re trying to play each other off against each other. The other two candidates were always Fabregas and Marco Silva.

“All four of those candidates are not easy managers to work with and are pretty strident personalities which is good, because if any one of them does come into Chelsea, they’re going to need to stand up for themselves and reorganise things and tell the owners to get out of their business and let them get on with it.

“That’s one of the things that Rosenior didn’t have was the strength to be able to do that. If it is Iraola or Xabi Alonso, you can bet they’re not going to take any messing from Behdad Egbalhi and Todd Boehly.”

Chelsea have reservations about re-hiring Italian boss

Former boss Antonio Conte, now in charge of Serie A club Napoli, has also been revealed to be a contender for the managerial position at Stamford Bridge.

Conte has pedigree at the club, having won the Premier League title and an FA Cup in his first spell in charge between 2016 and 2018.

However, former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider that there are concerns at Chelsea over Conte’s volatile nature.

The Italian’s last job in the Premier League at Tottenham ended in extraordinary fashion when he called his players “selfish” after a draw at Southampton and criticised the culture of the club.