{"id":654850,"date":"2026-06-23T23:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654850\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:32:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:32:12","slug":"chelsea-close-in-on-43m-marco-palestra-as-xabi-alonsos-first-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654850\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea close in on \u00a343m Marco Palestra as Xabi Alonso’s first signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea<\/a> are set to make Atalanta defender Marco Palestra the first signing for new boss Xabi Alonso for a fee in excess of \u00a343m.<\/p>\n

Palestra had been expected to join Italian champions Inter Milan following a successful loan spell at Cagliari last season, where he was named Serie A’s best defender.<\/p>\n

However, after 24 hours of talks, the Premier League club have emerged as the 21-year-old’s preferred destination as sources in Italy claim Inter could not match Chelsea<\/a>‘s offer on personal terms.<\/p>\n

Palestra, who made his international debut for Italy this year, is viewed at Stamford Bridge as an exciting option capable of playing on either flank, both as a wing-back and more conventional full-back.<\/p>\n

It is also an early sign of new manager Alonso’s influence. <\/p>\n

Having been appointed as manager rather than head coach, he is understood to have approved the move – the first major signing made by the club since the former Spain midfielder was named Liam Rosenior’s replacement in May.<\/a><\/p>\n

Alonso is set to formally join Chelsea<\/a> on 1 July, but has been in regular contact with the club hierarchy regarding incoming and outgoing transfers.<\/p>\n

Chelsea<\/a> are also targeting at least one central defender, as well as a midfielder – likely to be Strasbourg’s Valentin Barco – with multiple sources suggesting that deal is close. A further versatile attacker is also on the list.<\/p>\n

A number of players are also scheduled to move to west London this summer in deals completed last year, including \u00a340m winger Geovany Quenda<\/a> from Sporting and Strasbourg striker Emmanuel Emegha.<\/a> <\/p>\n

There are expected to be further departures following Marc Cucurella’s move to Real Madrid<\/a>, as Chelsea<\/a> look to trim their squad after a turbulent season in which they finished 10th in the Premier League and failed to qualify for Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea are set to make Atalanta defender Marco Palestra the first signing for new boss Xabi Alonso for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-654850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}