The situation
The soap opera is over and both Marcos Alonso and Xavi Hernández can breathe easy after a summer of tension and a frenetic market closing. Marcos Alonso is now officially a Barcelona player after leaving Chelsea and signing as a free agent with the culé team. He signs for one season, until June 30, 2023. He will have a release clause of 50 million euros. Marcos Alonso and Barcelona had reached an agreement for months. The player from Madrid, who for sporting and family reasons wanted to leave Chelsea this season, had chosen Barcelona as his destination and confirmed that “there was only Barça” in his head. His father played for the Blaugrana team after his time at Atlético de Madrid. “It is very special to play in the team that my father triumphed with,” adds Alonso. It must be remembered that his grandfather, Marquitos, was one of the key players in Di Stéfano’s Five European Cup Madrid. However, Barcelona’s financial problems with the salary limit for the squad left the operation frozen when the footballer had already reached an agreement with Thomas Tuchel, the ‘blues’ coach who had given him the green light to change teams. The German coach has been a key player in resolving a conflict that was in danger of becoming entrenched in the Chelsea situation.
The details
On the one hand, the English team changed owners this summer after the measures of the United Kingdom government against the Russian oligarchs and on the other, Chelsea did not maintain the best relations with Barcelona after the Blaugrana club tried to take Azpilicueta and frustrated that the Londoners signed Raphinha and Koundé, who have ended up at the Camp Nou. Now with the addition of Marcos, Xavi has three left-backs in his squad . Two of them, Jordi Alba, who accepts the challenge of staying, and Marcos himself are the ones who until now are fighting for this position in the National Team together with Gayà. The third, Alejandro Balde, is currently the holder of the position in the Catalan team. It is time to make decisions. Alonso comes to “put his experience at the service of the team.”