It's a new dawn at Chelsea, and hopefully the start of a far more stable project.
The BlueCo era has been nothing if not eventful, with so much disruption pulling Chelsea away from the biggest prizes on the wall. In spite of so much expenditure. In spite of financial ambition unrivalled.
However, Xabi Alonso could streamline that scattergun approach, wielding far more authority than his predecessors.
Xabi Alonso
Chelsea have much to work on, but Alonso is bringing fresh, innovative ideas to Stamford Bridge, and it's bound to alter a few things at the club.
How Alonso will set up at Chelsea
The three-man backline is a notoriously tricky set-up to perfect in the Premier League, but Chelsea are masters of those dark arts, and they could hit gold with Alonso at the helm.
Alonso is an interchangeable tactician, one of the sharpest minds in the game, but his arrival is bound to style the squad in a certain way, thus establishing winners and losers in west London.
In effect, Alonso wants his teams to control and dictate football matches. He loves possession, and fluent passing patterns. At Bayer Leverkusen, his suffocating, intense approach was underpinned by a sheer will to win that would lift Chelsea back into contention, should they embrace his tactical vision (something that did not happen in a rather volatile Real Madrid camp last term).
Alonso will have superstar power to play with. Though an attacker of Eden Hazard's ilk will not be at the Spaniard's disposal, Chelsea do have a hibernating Cole Palmer at the ready, the 24-year-old surely desperate to bounce right back to top form.
Cole Palmer
Chelsea's out-and-out wingers may suffer, should Alonso front a 3-4-2-1 formation, but there's no question that the Blues need elite forwards brought in, with Alejandro Garnacho potentially headed for the exit.
With that in mind, it appears that BlueCo are intent on signing their new version of Hazard this summer.
How Chelsea can sign their next Hazard
Hazard was rather good, wasn't he? It's fair to say that no one has come close to the Belgian superstar at Chelsea since, not even Palmer, with everything that the attacker touched turning to gold during that dreamy first season at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer's Midas touch deserted him last season, but if Chelsea manage to pull off a deal for Bournemouth striker Eli Junior Kroupi this summer, Alonso could bring his side back into the limelight, and no mistake.
According to TEAMtalk, Chelsea are right in the mix to sign the 20-year-old Frenchman this summer, with the Cherries reluctantly willing to cash in should their £100m valuation be met.
Tottenham Hotspur appear to be leading the race, but we've all heard that one before, with both Chelsea and Arsenal open to lodging a 'rival bid'.
It's understandable too, for he scored 13 goals across his debut campaign and led pundit Daniel Sturridge to hail him as "one of the best finishers in the Premier League".
AFC Bournemouth's Junior Kroupi celebrates scoring their first goal
Like Hazard, Kroupi cut his teeth in France, scoring 22 goals from only 30 games in Ligue 2 last term. The transition from that second-tier scene to the hustle and bustle of the Premier League has been remarkable, and you can only imagine the kind of heights he could reach if and when he arrives at Chelsea's complex.
Hailed as "the next Kylian Mbappe" by GOAL, Kroupi is on the fast track to superstardom, and while signing him would come with certain big-money connotations, Kroupi would be worth paying for, with the prodigious potential to enhance Chelsea's strike-force and maybe even emulate someone like Hazard down the line.
Despite only having spent one season in the Premier League, Kroupi has indeed established himself as one of the division's sharpest finishers. Remarkably, he only missed three big chances last season, striking with a conversion rate of 25%.
|Chelsea Top Premier League Scorers 25/26|
|Player|Apps|Goals|
|Joao Pedro|50|20|
|Enzo Fernandez|54|15|
|Cole Palmer|34|11|
|Pedro Neto|52|10|
|Estevao Willian|36|8|
|Alejandro Garnacho|43|8|
|---|
As a reference point, Joao Pedro, Chelsea's focal point in front of goal last year, converted 21% of his chances.
Kroupi might bring a different flavour than Hazard, but his is the exact profile that the Stamford Bridge side need to celebrate major titles once again, aligning perfectly with Alonso's vision and providing the club with a young and emergent talisman to lead the way.
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