Chelsea have been told to sign two free agents this summer as the club look to bounce back after a terrible season that saw them finish 10th in the Premier League
Chelsea should dip into the free agent market and sign John Stones and Robert Lewandowski as part of Xabi Alonso’s summer rebuild at Stamford Bridge. That’s the verdict of former Blues midfielder Joe Cole, who believes the club need to add more experience and support Alonso in the transfer window.
Alonso was appointed as Chelsea’s new permanent manager earlier this month after it was confirmed that interim head coach Calum McFarlane would step down at the end of the season. The Blues had been searching for a long-term replacement for Liam Rosenior and came to the conclusion that Alonso was the next man for the job.
In order to give Alonso the tools he requires to succeed at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have been urged to make some subtle changes to the playing squad as they look to improve on a woeful season that saw them finish 10th in the Premier League and without no European football next season.
Delivering his verdict on Chelsea’s summer transfer plans, Cole, who made more than 250 appearances during seven years in west London, believes the club should target free agent duo Stones and Lewandowski, who are both poised to leave Manchester City and Barcelona at the end of June.
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“We don’t know what the finances are,” Cole told football.london via Specsavers. “So it’s alright saying that we’re going to buy that player and buy that player. We may have to sell players, we don’t know.
“One thing we’re sure we don’t want is wholesale changes because these young players that you had belief in three years ago: they’re still the same players. They just need what I’ve been saying for two or three years, where you have experience around them within the group that helps them through games to coach them, whilst on the pitch to give them their wisdom, you know, and build it out that way.
“Even if you’re just selling players, there’s ones that are not going to get near it. That’s not for me to say, that’s for them to work out and then and then you bring in your John Stones and Robert Lewandowski and players on a free transfer who don’t need to play every minute of every game, but they understand winning, they understand culture and they can still help out in the pitch and do bits. And them players that need that, they’ve got it within the group, it can’t be from coaches, all the time.
“All the great teams are coached from within their own dressing room and its knowledge and wisdom passed down over the years. Like, it just baffles me how people just don’t understand that. But hopefully, they’ve read the room and that’s the way they go.
“If not, if they don’t, then it’ll be all much of the same. Chelsea will be better next year and they’ll probably say we’re on the way up again. But you once you get back up, you’ll always hit the same ceilings. When you get to elite level, you need experience, you need wisdom and you need quality.”
Chelsea ended the 2025/26 season with a dour 2-1 defeat at Sunderland, ending their hopes of qualifying for some sort of European football. The Blues now head into a critical summer as they look to improve and make a challenge for at least the Champions League places next term.
