Atlético give up on Alonso after failing to meet Chelsea asking price — report

Marcos Alonso signed a new long-term contract with Chelsea back in the fall, but his minutes only dropped as the season progressed and eventually, for the first time ever at Stamford Bridge, he found himself second-choice to the younger, faster ... better? ... Emerson, including in the Europa League final.

That has only led to increased speculation about Alonso’s future, and reports linked him, not entirely unreasonably, with a return to Madrid, where both Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid were looking for a new left back. Real have since spent big on Ferland Mendy. But Atlético are still looking.

Unfortunately for them, their budget isn’t as great as their more famous neighbors. So when Chelsea apparently set the asking price at €40m (or about 80 per cent of what Real paid for Mendy), Atlético had to walk away.

That’s last night’s story from Cadena COPE, who add that Alonso is not expected to force his way out either, especially now that Sarri’s gone — the idea being that the new man in charge would perhaps prefer Alonso again, and without confusing him, especially as Emerson himself continues to be linked with Sarri at Juventus.

As things stand however, both Alonso and Emerson are likely to continue with the Blues, for four and three more years, respectively — sorry, Jay Dasilva! Given how both are better as wing-backs rather than traditional full backs, perhaps the new head coach will look to utilize their skillsets a little bit better as well.