Chelsea still working on move for La Liga midfielder – statistics

Chelsea fans will be pleased to hear that the Daily Star are reporting that a deal for Real Madrid pass-master Xabi Alonso may still be on, but there is also bad news for the Blues. Los Blancos are still trying hard to persuade the Spaniard to sign a new deal at the Santiago Bernabeu to quash the rumours.

Alonso was the staple of Jose Mourinho’s midfield in the Spanish capital and played 42 games in the club’s campaign last season, which is some feat, and the 31-year-old could very well make the switch to London in the next month or so.

He spent five years in the Premier League with Liverpool under Rafa Benitez and is still regarded a hero at the Kop because of his technical brilliance, superb awareness and eye for a screamer, and he has also revealed that he still holds a place in his heart for the Reds, so I wonder how the Scousers would react to the move.

In La Liga Alonso played 28 games last term and accumulated a pass success of 83%. He made four defensive actions per game (on average) and won an impressive 63% of his attempted duels.

With Mikel supposedly heading to Turkey the Blues are going to need extra quality in the defensive midfield position, so could it be?