Thomas Tuchel confirms Marcos Alonso set to leave Chelsea for Barcelona

Marcos Alonso was one of the names conspicuously absent from Chelsea’s traveling squad for Saturday’s season opener at Goodison Park, and while we do have quite a few more players available than can fit in a 20-man matchday squad, and so by definition some will miss out every weekend, Alonso’s absence was seen as an indication of his impending move to Barcelona.

And that is indeed the case, as confirmed by Thomas Tuchel after our narrow 1-0 victory, which was decided on a penalty draw by another left back in the team.

“That is the case. He tries to leave and we agreed to this wish. That’s why it would not have made sense to put him on the pitch today. He would’ve been on the pitch otherwise but in this situation, it was the right thing to do.”

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Football.London

Chelsea used three left wing-backs today, with Ben Chilwell starting (and drawing the penalty), then Reece James deputizing for ten minutes, before fresh-off-the-transfer-bus Marc Cucurella finished out the final 20-25 minutes. With Emerson Palmieri still on the team as well (but also not in the matchday squad), we certainly can afford to let Alonso go now.

Barcelona should be wrapping up this move soon (hopefully), for what is expected to be a fee under €10m.