Enrique's Chelsea Snub Shows Why Alonso Would Overlook Blues for Better Prospects

The Chelsea managerial carousel keeps spinning. Liam Rosenior has stepped in to replace Enzo Maresca this month, arriving from Strasbourg—the club BlueCo also owns—to tackle the considerable mess at Stamford Bridge. Maresca's tenure became unsustainable following poor results and his public friction with the boardroom over alleged backing shortcomings.

Rosenior represents a somewhat underwhelming choice by most measures, particularly given Chelsea's supporters would have welcomed a genuinely elite appointment to the role.

Yet here's the kicker: according to European football expert Graham Hunter, the club's dysfunction runs far deeper than recent headlines suggest. Current PSG boss Luis Enrique previously held serious talks with Chelsea about the job—and walked away.

"Before he took over at Paris Saint-Germain, Enrique had a very successful interview with Clearlake at Cobham for the Chelsea job and he said: 'I'm not taking that job,'" Hunter explained on talkSPORT.

"He saw exactly what Enzo Maresca has suffered and I know because he told us in the making of the documentary that we had with him. He saw interfering owners, 62 directors of football… there's a problem coming."

That structural chaos, Hunter argues, should tell us everything we need to know about Xabi Alonso's likely stance on a Chelsea approach.

"Alonso would not choose Chelsea," Hunter stated bluntly. "If I'm wrong, get me back on the show and humiliate me when Alonso is the new Chelsea manager. He won't choose that because he sees it like you see it, honestly. He would view it with, 'I'm not going there, I have choices.'"

The case for Liverpool appears considerably stronger. Arne Slot currently faces mounting pressure, and journalist Ben Jacobs has indicated Alonso would be on any shortlist should a vacancy emerge.

"I think in short, if Liverpool have a vacancy, Xabi Alonso is going to be one of the names they consider," Jacobs said. "But they don't have a vacancy and right now, Liverpool are intent on sticking with Arne Slot."

There's a complicating factor, though. Sources close to Alonso suggest he has little appetite for parachuting into another role mid-season, which effectively removes him from immediate consideration regardless of where the opportunity might arise.