Alonso is the man charged with leading the Blues into the 2026/27 campaign, as the task of molding the team in his image begins at Cobham this week with the start of pre-season.

It is still early days in the Spaniard’s reign, with just over six weeks for him to get his squad into shape, physically and tactically, to make a sharp start to the season when the new Premier League campaign kicks off away at neighbours Fulham on Monday 24 August.

Before then, there is plenty of work to do at Cobham, which continued into the second day of pre-season on Friday.

With the introductions out of the way yesterday, it was all work on day two, as the Blues built up a sweat in the gym and on the training pitch on another hot summer's day at Cobham.