Chelsea finally know who will lead the club for the next four years - Xabi Alonso has accepted a four-year deal and becomes the new manager of the Blues. After several weeks of searching and several names doing the rounds in the media, the Spanish tactician has wrapped the story up with a signature at Stamford Bridge.

The 44-year-old Alonso was in London this week to finalise the details, and is reportedly thrilled at the chance to take over a club with this kind of budget and this kind of chaotic transfer policy. Chelsea had him as the first choice from the start, although internally Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth was also mentioned. Still, Alonso's reputation and his tactical profile settled the decision.

The return to the English Premier League comes almost two decades after he lifted the Champions League with Liverpool. Now he returns as the coach of the biggest rival of his former club - a complicated geometry that in England rarely passes without comment.

The deal arrives at a moment when Chelsea have to forget yet another disastrous season. Liam Rosenior lost the job after just 106 days, and interim coach Callum McFarlane is seeing the season through. Since January, Alonso has been free after leaving Real Madrid following seven turbulent months - a start of 10 wins from 11 games, then a dressing-room collapse and the end of the story.

What is interesting - Chelsea have promised Alonso real influence over transfer policy. That matters, because under BlueCo ownership, coaches have so far been passengers on a train of mass signings. The Spaniard wants to build a structure, not inherit chaos. His preferred 3-4-2-1 system reportedly fits Cole Palmer, Moisés Caicedo and Reece James perfectly.

The question is whether Chelsea will actually let him build. The club's history shows that strategic plans last exactly as long as the first bad run of results. Alonso will be given time while he wins - and in London, that is a currency that gets spent fast.