Xabi Alonso insists the "scar" left by his Real Madrid exit has now "healed", and he believes the Chelsea job is the perfect opportunity for him to rebuild his career.

Huge fanfare accompanied Alonso's appointment to the Madrid job in June 2025, after he led Bayer Leverkusen to an unbeaten German double in 2023-24.

However, the former midfielder was sacked in mid-January after just 34 matches at the helm, winning 24 of those (D4 L6).

When Madrid parted ways with Alonso, they were four points adrift of Barcelona at the top of LaLiga and had just lost to their arch-rivals in the Supercopa de Espana. There were also murmurs of discontent involving star players, including Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.

Los Blancos dropped off even further under Alonso's successor, new Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa, as they finished eight points behind Barca and suffered the ignominy of the Blaugrana clinching the title with a 2-0 victory in El Clasico in May.

But, having returned to England 17 years on from his departure from Liverpool as a player, Alonso believes he is fully over his Madrid setback.

"Luckily, there are not too many scars in my career," Alonso said, as quoted by BBC Sport.

"I got a scar, now it is healed, and I am determined to enjoy this next step, as I did when I started in Madrid.

"For the things that didn't work, I have been very critical of myself, thinking about what I could have done better. You learn from the disappointment of things."

Alonso has taken over a Chelsea side that finished 10th in the Premier League in 2025-26, parting ways with two head coaches – Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior – during a dismal season.

The Blues have not finished higher than third in the Premier League since winning the title under Antonio Conte in 2016-17. Three of the last four seasons have seen them fail to make the top four, something that only occurred in two of the previous 10 campaigns.

But Alonso feels the situation at Stamford Bridge is positive, particularly with ownership group BlueCo backing him to make nine signings – including a British-record £117m swoop for Morgan Rogers – already.  

"I had a view of Chelsea from the outside. I could see the positives and had my concerns, so I addressed them," Alonso said.

"The situation was not as bad as it looked at the end of last season. There is big potential to improve, and let's see how long it takes.

"We had the same ideas, the same analysis, to start building momentum together. That is why we are taking these steps together and making decisions to build a good team.

"We have taken a few steps, but I feel that we can still take a few more. You need the right balance of personalities and stages of maturity, with players in their early 20s, early 30s and everything in between.

"I felt it was good timing for the club and good timing for myself. It was a good opportunity, and I felt I had the chance to enjoy being a manager."

Since the start of 2022-23, Alonso's teams have averaged 2.2 points per game in Europe's top five leagues, with only Luis Enrique (2.34) and Carlo Ancelotti (2.25) faring better.

Alonso's preparations for his first campaign in West London continue on Wednesday, as his team face Juventus in Hong Kong. AC Milan, Johor Darul Ta'zim and Real Sociedad will be their other pre-season opponents, before visiting Fulham on August 24.