The main talking points from Chelsea's 6-4 victory over Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia with Xabi Alonso and his team getting the pre-season off to an entertaining beginning
07:00, 29 Jul 2026
It was far from the perfect start for Xabi Alonso as Chelsea manager - but it was unlikely to ever be that, especially given the line-up he fielded in Sydney.
While Alonso led the Blues in two behind-closed-door friendlies earlier this month, Tuesday evening - Australian local time - gave the Spaniard the opportunity to showcase the work he has done with his new squad since taking over at the start of the month. It was a very youthful Chelsea side, though, with five of the XI players you would consider academy stars.
There were naturally a hatful of changes - 11 over the course of the 90 minutes at the Accor Stadium in Sydney - which made for a beautifully messy pre-season friendly. Chelsea 6-4 Western Sydney Wanderers 4. Both teams sacked defending off for the night but quite enjoyed going the other way.
Bobby Vincent, who has been in Sydney since the weekend, was on the ground at the impressive 83,500-seater stadium. Here are his main talking points as Chelsea got their pre-season campaign underway by embracing the mayhem along the way:
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A sign of things to come from Alonso
Us journalists have not spent too much time in Alonso's company just yet. His post-match press conference on Tuesday evening (local time) in Sydney was just the third time the media have spoken to him in that scenario. Alonso has set his stance already as far as talking about transfer plans is involved.
In the 44-year-old's three press conferences to date, there have been - to football.london's calculations - four questions relating to the club's transfer targets. Inevitably, there have also been four answers but they are all of a similar ilk - Alonso is not interested in talking about non-Chelsea players.
Admirable, in many ways, but frustrating from a reporter's point of view. And supporters. Let us in, Xabi.
His latest reluctance to be drawn in came in the aftermath of Chelsea's win over Western Sydney Wanderers where Alonso was asked about the possible double signing of Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson. The journalists who have travelled to the other side of the world to cover Alonso's first games as Chelsea manager went into Tuesday evening knowing it would be a difficult job to get the Spaniard to openly address the situations, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.
The very first mention of Welbeck and Henderson was batted away by Alonso: "I'm sure that today until the last day of the transfer [window] there will be a lot of rumours, so to be commenting on all of them, it's going to be a hard task."
Although, Alonso did give us something at least: "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.
"For that we have an idea, we have a plan and let's see how we set it up until the start of the Premier League."
A reporter then tried to sidestep slightly and ask Alonso about needing experience after the Chelsea manager criticised the lack of game-management. To that, Alonso called on his team to learn from Tuesday's match - but quickly given the Premier League season begins in a few weeks.
Either way, getting an answer out of Alonso regarding transfer business is going to be difficult. That is the case with the majority of managers, bar the odd exception. Alonso will hope he can get answers to his very own questions between now and September 1.
A fresh start for Essugo
Tuesday night was a rare opportunity for Chelsea supporters to see midfielder Dario Essugo in action. The 21-year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer after a pre-agreed deal with Sporting CP but his debut season in England was far from ideal - he made just five appearances in all competitions in an injury-disrupted campaign.
Essugo impressed in the first half in Sydney before being taken off, perhaps with Alonso having said injuries in his mind. The Portuguese midfielder scored a beautiful goal after linking up well with academy star Reggie Walsh on the edge of the box before opening up his body and guiding the ball elegantly into the bottom corner.
It seems like an enormous pre-season for Essugo in his Chelsea career. Asked post-match about the significance of his second season in the Premier League, the former Sporting man said: "Yes, last season was a little bit difficult, but now I feel good. I'm looking forward to this season and that is what I want."
Will that be at Chelsea, or elsewhere on loan? Essugo was coy in his response: "I'm a Chelsea player, so that's what I know."
Short Sydney stay for shot-stopper
When the two line-ups were announced with around 75 minutes until kick-off to go, there were a few notable omissions from the squad. Jorrel Hato and Mamadou Sarr being two of them with a few supporters online concerned about potential injuries, though sources stressed shortly after team news dropped that there is no problem; instead they are on different pre-season programmes to the rest of the squad due to returning late from their World Cup exploits with the Netherlands and Senegal respectively.
Both are behind in terms of fitness and the plan was always for them to travel to Sydney but miss the opening match. Let's see if they are able to take any part against Tottenham at the weekend.
The most significant absence from the squad was goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen. As reported towards the end of May, the Danish shot-stopper intends to depart Stamford Bridge this summer in his bid to become a No.1 at a crucial stage of his career.
Jorgensen, who has been at Chelsea for two years now, has been the understudy to Robert Sanchez for the vast majority of his time in west London and informed the club's head of global goalkeeping, Ben Roberts, of his desire to take a different step in his career before September's transfer deadline. Chelsea will not stand in Jorgensen's way if the right offer comes his way.
There is no shortage of interest, sources say, in the Blues goalkeeper. Jorgensen is in talks about a move to BlueCo's sister club Strasbourg, who are after a new shot-stopper with Mike Penders returning to Chelsea this summer following his loan spell. There are said to be numerous Premier League clubs considering a move for the 24-year-old as well.
Jorgensen returned home to the UK not long before Chelsea's pre-season opener on Tuesday evening despite being in Australia for just a matter of days. football.london understands Jorgensen will spend his time back on British shores finalising a departure from the club this summer.
Penders is set to join up with the squad later on in the pre-season tour after travelling to North America with Belgium for the World Cup. The Belgian shot-stopper is then set to go head-to-head with Sanchez for the No.1 jersey at Stamford Bridge.
The curious sub of Kellyman
Omari Kellyman played his first minutes in the Chelsea first team on Tuesday. Yes, it was a friendly, but it still counts. However, there were not too many minutes for the 20-year-old to make a strong impression on Alonso. Why? Well, it's a long story.
Initially, Kellyman was not supposed to be part of the Blues' plane ride to Sydney - via Sri Lanka - but those close to the former Aston Villa youngster, signed by the west Londoners for £19m in the summer of 2024, pushed hard for him to be included in the squad. After an injury to Geovany Quenda, it opened up a space for another versatile attacking option - much to Kellyman's delight and excitement.
Quenda is expected to arrive in Hong Kong next week to join up with the Chelsea squad for the remainder of the pre-season tour. The 19-year-old suffered a minor injury in the behind-closed-doors win over Bromley, as well as Emmanuel Emegha, whose hamstring issue is a bit more serious and will continue his rehabilitation work at Cobham over the next few weeks.
As for Kellyman, the plan remains for him to move out on loan for the upcoming season. The Englishman has plenty of interest from several Championship clubs, however sources close to the player recently told football.london of their plan to hold off for a while before making any final decisions over his future.
Kellyman wants to move abroad next season on a season-long loan and there has been interest from multiple foreign clubs. However, the right offer is yet to surface; with numerous clubs offering him a loan with an option/obligation to buy - Chelsea and Kellyman do not want that at the time of writing.
If Chelsea were to let him go, the club would be keen to ensure there is no loss made on the £19m fee they paid two years ago. While Kellyman impressed on loan at Cardiff City in League One last season, there would be reservations over paying such an amount for his services.
Either way, Kellyman still wants to impress Alonso and wants long-term future at Stamford Bridge. Kellyman's representatives are set to assess his future next summer - and there could be a permanent departure should the situation at Stamford Bridge remain unchanged.
Kellyman's short time on Chelsea's books has been hampered by injury problems and there were fears he suffered another problem when subbed off less than 20 minutes after being brought on in Sydney. That, however, is not the case, football.london has been assured.
It appears to be one of those where it would not have even been spoken about if it was timed differently; for instance, if he came on for final 19 minutes of the game, but because Alonso wanted his best-possible team on the pitch for that period of the second half, it has perhaps been blown out of proportion.
Sources close to the attacker are relaxed about the situation, though, and are happy and excited for Kellyman to keep proving himself on and off the pitch in the first-team environment.
Lavia can't catch a break
Romeo Lavia, a small injury problem. Name a more inevitable thing. That is the sad reality and it feels brutal writing it, but it has to be said.
The pitch was iffy - to say the very least - after it was used for three different rugby games over the weekend. NRL (National Rugby League) sides South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs play at the Accor Stadium and the weekend was a hectic one. And so it showed.
As soon as the conditions became clear to Alonso and Chelsea, there should have been no chance that Lavia got on the pitch in question. That was explained post-match by Alonso, who delivered the bad - yet remarkably unsurprising news that Lavia picked up a minor injury over the last few days.
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Alonso said: "He felt something in the hamstring, not a big thing, so hopefully we are expecting him to be fit for Saturday, but there was no point of taking risks today, so that is why Reggie Watson has played these 90 minutes and he has done well."
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The two Reggies - Walsh and Watson - who are 16 and 17 years old respectively have both competed 90-minute matches in the Chelsea first team. Staggeringly, despite being with the club for closing in on three years now after signing from Southampton for £58m in August 2023, Lavia has done that just once - a pre-season friendly against Manchester City in 2024.
Fingers crossed, as Alonso said, Lavia can take some part in Saturday's London derby with Tottenham. Football is a cruel, cruel sport at times and Lavia continuously feels that more than most.