What’s the story?
Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso has revealed he snubbed advances from Barcelona before joining the Blues last summer. The Spanish wing-back was signed by Antonio Conte from Fiorentina last summer amongst scepticism from a number of corners at Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniard has, however, been a regular figure Chelsea’s starting lineup as the West London club enjoys a 10 point gap at the top of the Premier League table. Alonso admitted that he had no plans of leaving Serie A and only changed his decision when Chelsea came calling.
"Well, I think there were some conversations [with Barcelona] but the truth is that at that point it was not in my plans to leave Fiorentina. It was only when the interest from Chelsea arrived in the summer when I started to consider to make a change,” Alonso told IBTimes UK.
"There were some great teams interested in me in the summer but I decided to join Chelsea because they are a team that I had always liked."
In case you didn’t know...
The 26-year-old came up through the ranks of Real Madrid’s youth system and made his way into their B team in 2008. He made one senior appearance for the 11-time European winners and his failure to cement a place in the squad saw him make a switch to Bolton Wanderers in 2010.
Alonso impressed during his time at Bolton and that saw him make a switch to Fiorentina three years later. A loan move to Sunderland in January 2014 was the turning point in his career as his superb display for the Black Cats saw him cement a place in Fiorentina’s starting lineup on his return to Italy.
The left wing-back’s display for the Italian outfit saw him attract interest from Serie A, Barcelona and Chelsea. It was the west London club who were successful in tempting Alonso join them and that convinced him to leave Fiorentina for the Premier League outfit.
The heart of the matter
Conte knew Alonso very well during the former’s time at Juventus and Italy. That saw Chelsea pay a fee of £23 million to Fiorentina in order to bring the defender to Stamford Bridge last summer.
Alonso suits Conte’s 3-4-3 system where he has been deployed as a left wing-back. So far he has scored four goals and has two assists to his name. The Spanish defender is enjoying his life at Chelsea and is hoping his side can go on to win the title this term.
Sportskeeda’s take
At this point of the season, it looks like Alonso was right to snub advances from Barcelona for Chelsea. However, a move to Camp Nou would have improved his chances of breaking into Spain’s national team.
