{"id":671897,"date":"2026-07-03T15:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T15:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/671897\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T15:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T15:50:10","slug":"chelsea-wonderkid-handed-perfect-xabi-alonso-opportunity-as-summer-transfer-decision-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/671897\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea wonderkid handed perfect Xabi Alonso opportunity as summer transfer decision made"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xabi Alonso will take his first pre-season training session with his new Chelsea squad on July 9 as a new era embarks at Stamford Bridge and Cobham<\/p>\n

12:36, 03 Jul 2026Updated 12:45, 03 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

\"Xabi<\/p>\n

Xabi Alonso will take Chelsea training for the first time next week(Image: Guillermo Martinez\/NurPhoto)<\/p>\n

Ishe Samuels-Smith will be part of Xabi Alonso’s group this summer, however the Chelsea defender will be unable to train in full when the first-team squad report back next week as he continues his recovery from surgery.<\/p>\n

It was confirmed earlier this week<\/a> that the Blues squad will report for pre-season training on Thursday, July 9, for the first time under Alonso<\/a> and Samuels-Smith<\/a> will be present at Cobham. It was a strange season for the 20-year-old defender last time around having moved to Strasbourg on a permanent basis, only to be moved back to Chelsea after just 33 days in France.<\/p>\n

Ismael Doukoure of Strasbourg looked set to leave the Ligue 1 club at one point last summer and Samuels-Smith was expected to deputise. However, Doukoure ended up signing a new contract with the French outfit and that’s when a decision over Samuels-Smith’s future was made.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page<\/a><\/p>\n

BlueCo felt as if Doukoure staying would block Samuels-Smith’s pathway and Chelsea exercised the option<\/a> to buy the defender back after just over a month with their sister club. Samuels-Smith was then sent to Swansea City on a season-long loan deal but it proved a difficult time for the versatile defender in south Wales.<\/p>\n

He ended up making just eight appearances in all competitions for the Swans throughout his season there. Chelsea will be hoping for a more successful loan this time around and sources close to the player insist that is another temporary move is on the cards for the Manchester-born defender, who came through Everton’s academy before signing for Chelsea in 2023.<\/p>\n

It is likely to be a loan move to a Championship club, with several second-tier clubs interested in Samuels-Smith. Before moving, though, the Chelsea left back will get the opportunity to try and leave a strong first impression on newly-appointed manager Alonso.<\/p>\n

Samuels-Smith, who is recovering from having surgery on his quadriceps earlier this year, will be part of the group Alonso takes this summer alongside several first-team stars, likely to include Cole Palmer, Joao Pedro, Andrey Santos and others not selected by their countries for the ongoing World Cup.<\/p>\n

While Samuels-Smith will not be involved in full training with the senior squad next week, he will be part of the group this summer. Samuels-Smith’s focus will be in the gym as he looks to return to full fitness this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso will take his first pre-season training session with his new Chelsea squad on July 9 as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":671898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[219,14556,129436,218,224879,101,56,54,55,40765],"class_list":["post-671897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-chelsea","tag-chelsea-transfer-news","tag-chelsea-transfer-rumours","tag-football","tag-ishe-samuels-smith","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-xabi-alonso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671897","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=671897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}