Chelsea have completed the signing of former Bolton Wanderers left-back Marcos Alonso for a reported £23m. The full-back arrives from Fiorentina and has penned a 5-year deal. The 25-year old moves back to the Premier League for the third time after stints at Bolton and Sunderland. Marcos Alonso is a product of the Real Madrid youth product and played 39 times for the club’s B side finding the net on three occasions.
The marauding left-back made just a single first-team appearance back in 2010, as a 90th-minute substitute before leaving for England. He represented Bolton 46 times from 2010 to 2013 before moving to Fiorentina and had a four-month loan spell at Sunderland in 2014. Alonso expressed delight at having completed the move and sees it as a step up in his career. He believes he will be getting a chance to fight for trophies and what better place to do it than at his dream club.
“It’s time for me to win some titles. It’s a step up in my career”
“My family and close friends know Chelsea is the club I have dreamed about playing for”
“I’m really excited about the challenge and I’m looking forward to working with my new team-mates.”
Chelsea clearly have a deficiency in their defensive reserves and while the club is looking at signing a centre back, Conte will certainly find room to accommodate the new signing. Chelsea have played Azpilicueta in the left-back spot for a couple of seasons and the Spanish International has performed admirably. But the fact remains that Chelsea have been operating without a conventional left-back and with Azpilicueta primarily being a right-back he gives the manager the option to shift him to right-back and use Ivanovic as a cover at centre-back.
The Serbian has struggled lately in the right-back spot with fast wingers exploiting him on a regular basis. With the physical presence of the likes of Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi, a natural left-footed fullback delivering crosses from the by-line will add a different dimension and will open up goal scoring opportunities in matches where the opposition teams sit back and leave no spaces for the creative players to exploit.
While Chelsea fans weren’t visibly delighted with the deal for obvious reasons, here’s hoping that Marcos Alonso proves himself at the third time of asking.
@ChelseaFC @marcosalonso03 looks like mixed version of ballack & mata
— avis (@TheConteWay) August 31, 2016
@ChelseaFC @marcosalonso03 poor man’s Moreno.
— Rushabh Jain (@rushabh9_11) August 31, 2016
@ChelseaFC @marcosalonso03 finally we have a left-footed real left-back! #cfc
— Amar Jasika (@AmarJasika) August 31, 2016
@ChelseaFC @philmcnulty @marcosalonso03 hahahahahahahahahhahaha Bolton reject. Couldn’t make it there. Waste of £23M
— El talentino (@elTalentino247) August 31, 2016
@ChelseaFC @marcosalonso03 Don’t underestimate him guys. He’s an awesome player.
— Aashay Khandekar (@aasheykhandekar) August 31, 2016
@ChelseaFC we already have 2 better LBs out on loan ffs waste of £23m
— Roman Abramovich (@MrAbramovich_03) August 31, 2016
@jOrDs44 Yeah I know and we still have Zouma coming back soon as well it just spells panic buy along with Marcos Alonso
— Dave Richards (@Big_Dave_91) August 31, 2016
