Chelsea’s squad is as unsettled as it’s ever been and very few of the current crop will be around in a future title-winning team. This is no longer a case of tweaking. We’re talkin’ ’bout a revolution.
It was revealed on Thursday that Chelsea had agreed a transfer fee for another young player. In the latest example of the new ownership looking to failsafe the future, Todd Boehly and his Clearlake consorters, or Christopher Vivell, or Laurence Stewart, or Joe Shields, or Paul Winstanley – in truth we have no idea who does what at Chelsea anymore – fought off competition from Manchester City and Newcastle for 18-year-old Brazilian Andrey Santos. David Datro Fofana, 20, is also expected to join the Blues in January from Molde.
With that pair, summer arrivals Carney Chukwuemeka (18), Gabriel Slonina (18) and Cesare Casadei (18), maybe Youssoufa Moukoko (18), if they can win the race to sign him from Borussia Dortmund and what looks still to be a steady stream of very good talent from the academy, Chelsea could have an excellent team in two to three years’ time. But what about now?
Chelsea lost three Premier League games on the bounce before the World Cup break and drew the two before that. They are currently on their longest winless run in a decade. They’re now eight points off the top four and seventh favourites according to the bookies in the race to finish in those Champions League qualification spots.
The players, pretty much to a man, were out of form before the World Cup. And while an uplift in Qatar from some Chelsea players will provide a crumb of comfort, those that were away will not have reaped the rewards of time on the training field with Graham Potter, which they were clearly in desperate need of.
Potter’s appointment was a short-term risk in the hope of long-term reward. If the Chelsea owners wanted to ensure Champions League football they would have followed the hiring strategy of the last two decades which, with one or two exceptions, saw very well-qualified, well-respected managers arrive to tweak their predecessor’s strategy. Continuity was the name of the game under Roman Abramovich. But through hiring Potter, Boehly ushered in a revolution.
It wasn’t clear at the time just how damaging this revolution might be in the short-term, but Potter’s first couple of months in charge suggest things might not be all that great for a while at Chelsea. The apparent transfer strategy suggests Boehly and his fellow investors have now accepted that reality. If only they had committed to it sooner.
Chelsea spent £280m in the summer and, let’s face it, have got next to nothing back from that investment. That outlay looked daft when they sacked Thomas Tuchel – who we were told played a significant role in signing those players – a week after the transfer window closed, and is even more baffling now as Potter struggles to get the best out of any of them.
How many of those players would Potter have wanted? Most of them will have joined because they were wanted, many of them on huge wages, and will expect to play. Can Potter not start Raheem Sterling if he doesn’t want to? Does he think Kalidou Koulibaly is more worthy of a place than Trevoh Chalabah? Can he afford to squeeze Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out or does the forward already have significant sway in the dressing room that may cost Potter his job?
And then there’s the players who didn’t leave. Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic are obviously unhappy. Cesar Azpilicueta may now be regretting his decision not to move to Barcelona. Jorginho and N’Golo Kante are both out of contract in the summer. Edouard Mendy wants pay parity with Kepa Arrizabalaga. Mason Mount is yet to sign a new deal.
It feels as though Mateo Kovacic, who has 18 months left to run on his contract, Thiago Silva, who’s 38, and Reece James are the only Chelsea players who represent a semblance of stability right now. There may never have been such uncertainty in a group at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are now in an alien situation where it would be a surprise if they qualified for the Champions League, and are perhaps as far away from winning the title as they’ve ever been in the last two decades. This is no longer a case of tweaking. This is a total rebuild job, not dissimilar to Mikel Arteta’s process at Arsenal.
Only Bukayo Saka – who played at left-back – and Granit Xhaka remain from Arteta’s first starting XI as Arsenal manager. How many of this Chelsea squad will be involved if and when Potter has Chelsea chasing the title once again?
A Chelsea title-winning midfield is more likely to feature Chukwuemeka, Santos or Casadei than Jorginho, Kante or Kovacic. Chelsea’s title-winning striker is almost certainly yet to join. We can just about picture Wesley Fofana lifting the Premier League trophy, along with Mount and James. Is that Kai Havertz in the background? Seems unlikely.
Chelsea have a bright future, but are faced with as bleak a present as many will be able to remember.
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December 25, 2022 at 03:00PM
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Chelsea accept bleak present for bright future as Potter faced with Arteta-like rebuild - Football365
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