Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 31,037]

Chelsea’s summer of sales was unprecedented – but have they improved?

https://theathletic.com/4833721/2023/09/06/Chelsea-sales-pochettino-boehly/

There was a feeling of satisfaction at Chelsea as the transfer window in England closed at the end of last week — and not because, for the third time in the space of 12 months, their relentless recruitment had dominated the market as well as the conversation.

With north of £400million ($503m) committed on transfer fees to bring 12 new players to Stamford Bridge, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital managed to scale up the expenditure even from the first two jaw-dropping windows of their ownership. But club officials were more keen to draw attention to another figure: £295million.

That is how much Chelsea claim they raised through player sales and loan fees this summer, offsetting the amortised transfer costs accumulated in the previous two windows and creating room to reinforce Mauricio Pochettino’s young squad with Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and more.

Transfermarkt lists an incredible 25 departures from Chelsea this summer, and that only includes players who were either in the first-team picture or had previously been out on loan.

The scale of the exodus was nothing less than what was required after a season in which January signings found themselves unable to fit into the dressing room at Cobham and training sessions with two 11-vs-11 matches on adjacent pitches became a regular occurrence. But it is nonetheless an impressive logistical achievement, even for a club with two sporting directors and owners who remain actively engaged in transfer and contract negotiations.

How does the sales push look in football and financial terms?

To consider that question properly means setting aside the fact that Chelsea have lost two of their first four Premier League matches this season to West Ham United and Nottingham Forest, beating only relegation favourites Luton Town at home. It is far too early to know if the squad Pochettino has now will end up stronger or weaker than the one Thomas Tuchel oversaw in the summer of 2022.

But there are other assessments we can reasonably make right now. Namely, how Boehly and Clearlake fared against the three main aims they set for themselves in this window: to raise funds to offset further recruitment, to drastically trim the size of the squad and to lower the wage bill by offloading high earners from the Roman Abramovich era.

Every sale is different, and beneath the headline £295million figure lies a nuanced picture.

Extracting £65million from Arsenal for Kai Havertz can easily be seen as a win, given that the German failed to fully justify the fanfare that surrounded his arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2020 — or even find his best position on the pitch.

Chelsea also negotiated Manchester United up from a £40million opening offer for Mason Mount to a final package of £55million with a further £5million in add-ons. That said, it should not be viewed as particularly difficult to garner a juicy transfer fee for a 24-year-old England international who has been your club’s player of the year twice, even if he does only have one year remaining on a contract that pays him significantly less than he is worth.

GO DEEPER

Mason Mount and Chelsea - how the perfect marriage fizzled out in divorce

Securing good value for players on what the new owners call “legacy contracts” handed out in the Abramovich era — deals with above-market salaries — is a bigger challenge.

Within that context, bringing in £25million for Mateo Kovacic, around £18million for Christian Pulisic and £15million for Ruben Loftus-Cheek is reasonable, even if it is likely that all three perform well for Manchester City and AC Milan. Chelsea believe all three took pay cuts to leave Stamford Bridge, as Callum Hudson-Odoi did to complete a deadline-day move to Nottingham Forest.

In the cases of Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Hudson-Odoi and several others who departed in this window, Chelsea also insisted on the inclusion of sell-on clauses that could net them further income in future years. They already benefited this summer from one such agreement initially made by Marina Granovskaia, banking up to £15.5million from Cobham graduate Tino Livramento’s £35million transfer from Southampton to Newcastle United.

The most controversial aspect of Chelsea’s sales were the deals that took Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy, two unwanted first-team players without lucrative markets for their services in Europe, to the Saudi Pro League. Boehly and Clearlake were certainly more alive than some of their rivals to the opportunities presented by the recruitment drive of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and offloading Koulibaly and Mendy — and their salaries — for a combined £36million did the club a big favour.

But further deals for Romelu Lukaku, Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang never came to fruition, while Al Ittihad also signed N’Golo Kante, a free agent Chelsea wanted to retain. The Frenchman’s injury record since 2019 suggests they might have been saved from themselves on that front, and the club subsequently re-stocked their midfield cupboard with several young players they regard as better long-term assets.

Some of Chelsea’s uglier outgoing business suggested a greater willingness to recognise a lack of market leverage than in the past, or simply to acknowledge their own transfer mistakes.

Nothing in her track record suggests Granovskaia would have agreed to loan out Lukaku, Ziyech or Kepa Arrizabalaga on such modest terms, or terminate the contracts of Aubameyang or Tiemoue Bakayoko. More likely there would have been disillusioned players kept around for the new coach to deal with, or top-up contract extensions handed out to preserve some hypothetical notion of “value”.

Boehly and Clearlake’s priorities this summer were very different.

Almost all of the players still on contracts agreed under Abramovich and Granovskaia have either been sold or loaned out and, in the current squad, only three players are inside the final two years of their current deals: Thiago Silva, Ian Maatsen and Conor Gallagher.

That is one area where Chelsea’s sales drive ultimately fell short. They were open to offers for Cobham graduates Gallagher, Maatsen and Trevoh Chalobah all summer, but suitors were slow to meet their valuations. When acceptable bids were finally received for Maatsen and Chalobah on deadline day — from Burnley and Nottingham Forest respectively — they came from clubs the players had no interest in joining.

Now the challenge is to re-assimilate players who have been made to feel unwanted and expendable — ideally, in the cases of Gallagher and Maatsen, to the point where they agree to sign new deals — or at the very least to get to January without some or all of them suffering precipitous declines in their transfer value due to a lack of game time.

Selling all three would have meant losing three talented home-grown footballers, and one in Gallagher who is valued highly by Pochettino and has worn the captain’s armband this season. It would also have meant banking almost £100million more in sale revenue — all of which would have been recorded as profit on the accounts — and left the squad closer to Pochettino’s desired size.

Chelsea took the other path with Lewis Hall, loaning their academy player of the year to Newcastle with an obligation to buy for £28million plus £7million in add-ons.

The deal was greeted with understandable dismay among some supporters, and could end up looking cheap if he fulfils his potential at St James’ Park. But it was also a smart way to lock in a significant return for a player who was unlikely to see his value rise this season had he remained on the fringes of Pochettino’s plans. Instead, his sale price will go towards offsetting next summer’s chunk of the amortised fees of signings already made.

There are still 31 players on the first-team page of Chelsea’s website, though this includes academy goalkeepers Lucas Bergstrom and Eddie Beach, as well as teenage signing Deivid Washington, who is being used as short-term emergency striker cover while Armando Broja completes his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. It also includes Malang Sarr, whom Chelsea’s new head coach does not appear to have met or heard of.

Pochettino admitted prior to Chelsea’s loss to Forest that his squad may prove too big once the bulk of the club’s injured players return, but the situation does not appear to be anywhere near the unmanageable mess that was created in the second half of last season. Boehly and Clearlake are also convinced they have lowered the club’s wage bill by tens of millions, even as they have used this summer’s sales to maintain a relentless stream of new signings.

By their own metrics, then, this window was a largely successful one.

The big question no one can yet answer is whether Chelsea have emerged from it with a squad capable of returning to the club’s modern standards of trophy contention, now or in the near future.

GO DEEPER

Why Chelsea believe their £900m transfer spending is within FFP rules

Edited September 6, 2023 by Vesper

[ZAPHOD2319 4,942]

 

[Vesper 31,037]

Did Chelsea really refuse signings based on age?

https://thedailybriefing.io/i/136748695/did-Chelsea-really-refuse-signings-based-on-age

The average age of Chelsea’s new signings this summer is just 20.5. And the average squad age is 22.5. That shows the project has been all about transforming the team and planning for the future.

Chelsea spent £448m this summer, taking their outlay over the last three windows to over £1bn. But they also recouped £295m in sales and loan fees. That part shouldn’t be forgotten either.

Chelsea’s strategy has been to largely look at players 25-years-old and under. And it’s true they passed up on going for James Maddison, who is now 26. But that wasn’t really down to age alone. 

There will always be exceptions to the age ‘rule’. After all, Mauricio Pochettino is also very keen on having Premier League experience. That’s why Raheem Sterling is seen as so important this season.

Chelsea looked at lots of targets, which is normal in a busy window. But they also knew Maddison preferred the move to Spurs. Maddison wanted London, which also counted against Newcastle who were very keen at one point but had moved on prior to Spurs’ bid. Maddison also wanted to settle his future quickly having just had new-born twins. 

What’s clear with Chelsea is they do want to buy young. They view fees paid as an investment not an expense, and this approach allows them to get players on longer-term contracts and for lower wages. The strategy is ultimately reliant on players growing into their price tag.

It’s harder to convince a player over 25 to sign a seven-year deal. And it’s riskier for the club as well because the signing could enter into their late 20s or early 30s and be surplus to requirements and harder to offload.

But I don’t think it’s accurate or fair to say Chelsea will point-blank refuse to buy over 25s. Robert Sanchez is 25 and turns 26 in November, 26-year-old Raphinha was considered (he didn’t want to leave Barcelona) and 27-year-old Ivan Toney is one name Chelsea could yet explore in January. 

The recruitment approach isn’t rigid, so I don’t think we can say any player is ruled out on age alone. But it’s clear Chelsea do prefer to buy young at this stage of their project.

[Vesper 31,037]

 

[Vesper 31,037]

Twenty-Five 17yos and 16yos to watch who are remotely available (so no Endrick, Lamine Yamal, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Julien Duranville, Paul Wanner, Noah Darvich)  

Winger Estêvão Willian    Palmeiras
Right Footed CB Leny Yoro Lille
AMF Luis Guilherme   Palmeiras 
Right Footed CB Luka Vuskovic    HNK Hajduk Split  
Winger Gianluca Prestianni  Vélez Sarsfield  
Left Footed CB Jorrel Hato Ajax
AMF Jobe Bellingham Sunderland
DMF Gabriel Moscardo   Corinthians (we already are trying to buy)
RW/AMF Rayan Vitor  Vasco da Gama
AMF Claudio Echeverri  River Plate
CF Kauã Elias    Fluminense
CMF Sverre Nypan  Rosenborg
AMF Simone Pafundi    Udinese Calcio   
Winger Pedro   Corinthians
Winger Roony Bardghji   FC Copenhagen
Left Footed CB Matai Akinmboni
CMF Assan Ouédraogo   Schalke 04
CMF Lucas Bergvall  Djurgården
Winger Roger    Braga
Left Footed CB Yasin Özcan  Kasimpasa
Winger Adyson   América-MG
Winger Faniel Tewelde Odd BK
Winger Adrian Mazilu FCV Farul
LB Andrei Borza    FC Rapid 1923
GK Gonçalo Ribeiro     Porto

 

[ZAPHOD2319 4,942]

 

[DDA 10,204]

What's the talk of us being interested in Nottingham Forests striker??

For fuck sakes man can we aim a little higher. 

 

[Blue Armour 4,710]

1 hour ago, DDA said:

What's the talk of us being interested in Nottingham Forests striker??

For fuck sakes man can we aim a little higher. 

 

Is this striker also under 25 years of age?

[lluubbeenn 188]

1 hour ago, DDA said:

What's the talk of us being interested in Nottingham Forests striker??

For fuck sakes man can we aim a little higher. 

 

Yeah. Lets get someone from Brighton. Heard they are developing great players. 😄

[Vesper 31,037]

2 hours ago, Blue Armour said:

Is this striker also under 25 years of age?

no

he misses the stupid 25yo and under cut-off (it should have been 26yo and under, with exceptions (27yo to 30yo depending on the player) made for GK, CB, and CF)

he would have made that revised cut-off

 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Vesper

[OneMoSalah 9,089]

I mean hate to sound all doom and gloom but if we are truly limiting ourselves to signing players under 25 for whatever reason then we will win nothing anytime soon. Just reeks of Arsenal under Wenger, good team in 3 or 4 years but lose their key players eventually as they don’t compete, rinse & repeat…

Sometimes you need to get a couple of those guys in their best years and very rarely are footballers in their highest level under the age of 25. The likes of Cesc and Costa coming to us in 14/15 is the perfect example when Jose signed them. The season before we were a “little horse” as Jose put it himself, those 2, Filipe Luis, Drogba and the return of Courtois elevated the group alongside JM. Not to mention the signing of Matic in January the year before hugely contributed. Not any of them barring Tibo were under 25.

Exceptions have to be made. If we prioritise signing players who aren’t close to proven in certain areas and just have a constant revolving door of unproven and “could be greats” then we will not make sufficient enough progress. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Vesper 31,037]

29 minutes ago, OneMoSalah said:

Filipe Luis

was a big bust in 2014/15

only played 15 league games, 937 league minutes, no league goals or assists, and was gone the next season

 

[OneMoSalah 9,089]

5 hours ago, Vesper said:

was a big bust in 2014/15

only played 15 league games, 937 league minutes, no league goals or assists, and was gone the next season

 

Wasn’t a bust due to his performances though. Just never played ahead of Azpi due to Mourinho’s love for Ivanovic.

Whenever FL played he actually did well and didn’t look out of place at all despite the few that were concerned he wouldn’t be able to cope with the PL due to his age (mental considering how good he had been for Atleti in Spain & the CL).

People also forget how good Azpi was that season for Mourinho as a LB, IIRC at one point he was statistically the fullback with the best defensive stats in the PL & Europe at one point that season.

I mean if you look at how many games we lost that season with Azpi & Luis in the team, we lost 3 with Azpi (although he played more) and 1 with Luis, keeping a lot of clean sheets in the process.

Then look at the outrage when we allowed him to leave and signed that dud Baha Rahmann… 

Edited September 7, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Mário César 1,475]

6 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

I mean hate to sound all doom and gloom but if we are truly limiting ourselves to signing players under 25 for whatever reason then we will win nothing anytime soon. Just reeks of Arsenal under Wenger, good team in 3 or 4 years but lose their key players eventually as they don’t compete, rinse & repeat…

Sometimes you need to get a couple of those guys in their best years and very rarely are footballers in their highest level under the age of 25. The likes of Cesc and Costa coming to us in 14/15 is the perfect example when Jose signed them. The season before we were a “little horse” as Jose put it himself, those 2, Filipe Luis, Drogba and the return of Courtois elevated the group alongside JM. Not to mention the signing of Matic in January the year before hugely contributed. Not any of them barring Tibo were under 25.

Exceptions have to be made. If we prioritise signing players who aren’t close to proven in certain areas and just have a constant revolving door of unproven and “could be greats” then we will not make sufficient enough progress. 

exactly

its a badly insane approach 

even in our 09/10 title we had a lot of experience 

no way we can fight for a title with this kind of mentality

[Reddish-Blue 2,663]

12 hours ago, DDA said:

What's the talk of us being interested in Nottingham Forests striker??

For fuck sakes man can we aim a little higher. 

 

Who are you expecting to attract to the club? 

Funny thing is, we probably needed that Forest striker more than Jackson right now....i.e. someone that can come in and be that physical presence up front. 

We signed a project striker for our 'rebuild'.....when all of our traditional rivals for the top 6 have top class players up front.  Haaland - Alvarez/Foden, Bruno - Rashford,  Salah/Jota/Nunez, Jesus/Saka/Martinelli, Son. 

[Thor 2,817]

2 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

Who are you expecting to attract to the club? 

Funny thing is, we probably needed that Forest striker more than Jackson right now....i.e. someone that can come in and be that physical presence up front. 

We signed a project striker for our 'rebuild'.....when all of our traditional rivals for the top 6 have top class players up front.  Haaland - Alvarez/Foden, Bruno - Rashford,  Salah/Jota/Nunez, Jesus/Saka/Martinelli, Son. 

Project striker? Jackson was scoring goals at a similar or better rate than just about everyone you mentioned and their move to their club aside from Haaland. 

Sterling was more consistent and had better numbers than all the guys you listed. It isn't the players. Its the tactics, culture and rebuilding aspect of it. Y'all just want immediate results. It ain't happening. 

Haaland has missed plenty of sitters and penalties, but the shit doesn't matter when his team can create for him over and over. Y'all see Jackson have one bad miss and its doom and gloom. He and Sterling have been our best players this year. 

[robsblubot 3,595]

4 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

Who are you expecting to attract to the club? 

Funny thing is, we probably needed that Forest striker more than Jackson right now....i.e. someone that can come in and be that physical presence up front. 

We signed a project striker for our 'rebuild'.....when all of our traditional rivals for the top 6 have top class players up front.  Haaland - Alvarez/Foden, Bruno - Rashford,  Salah/Jota/Nunez, Jesus/Saka/Martinelli, Son. 

yup. Everyone we signed is a "project" including Jackson. Each has more or less potential, but that's the type of signing the club is after these days. Got to have blind faith in a leadership who hasn't earned it yet.

I still think jackson can deliver, but he does have to hone his a game a bit as I've been saying elsewhere; what helped villareal may not help Chelsea in the PL. It's really a case of different requirements for the same job.

There is also a point that these top scorer simply aren't available, so you've got to make some bets. 

[lluubbeenn 188]

13 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

I mean hate to sound all doom and gloom but if we are truly limiting ourselves to signing players under 25 for whatever reason then we will win nothing anytime soon. Just reeks of Arsenal under Wenger, good team in 3 or 4 years but lose their key players eventually as they don’t compete, rinse & repeat…

Sometimes you need to get a couple of those guys in their best years and very rarely are footballers in their highest level under the age of 25. The likes of Cesc and Costa coming to us in 14/15 is the perfect example when Jose signed them. The season before we were a “little horse” as Jose put it himself, those 2, Filipe Luis, Drogba and the return of Courtois elevated the group alongside JM. Not to mention the signing of Matic in January the year before hugely contributed. Not any of them barring Tibo were under 25.

Exceptions have to be made. If we prioritise signing players who aren’t close to proven in certain areas and just have a constant revolving door of unproven and “could be greats” then we will not make sufficient enough progress. 

I cant say I completely agree with your point. Yes, we are buying young players, but we are not in the market for bargains per say. We spend a lot of money on players who on paper are the absolute best in their age group. It is a big gamble, but we can easily buy 2-3 ready made players when the dust settles and we can analyze the squad. Here comes the role of Poch to keep players happy. The ones who preform on the expected level(Enzo) must be kept motivated and believing in the project. As long as he manages that, I think we will be alright. 

[Reddish-Blue 2,663]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Sterling was more consistent and had better numbers than all the guys you listed

During his time at City, absolutely.   If his numbers were that good at Chelsea, we wouldn't have struggled that badly last season. 

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Haaland has missed plenty of sitters and penalties, but the shit doesn't matter when his team can create for him over and over. Y'all see Jackson have one bad miss and its doom and gloom

You can't honestly be comparing a 25+ goal a season striker with Jackson?    

3 hours ago, Thor said:

Project striker? Jackson was scoring goals at a similar or better rate than just about everyone you mentioned and their move to their club aside from Haaland. 

And that is the problem.  Jackson barely had 1 season of top flight football under his belt and now he's expected to lead the front line and score goals on a regular basis for a club that should be fighting for a top 4 place in the PL. 

In 2 seasons time, Jackson may become the striker we are all hoping for....but we needed someone to ease the pressure right now and that's not Jackson. 

[YorkshireBlue 3,341]

2 hours ago, Reddish-Blue said:

should be fighting for a top 4 place in the PL.

Should is the key word here, there are now plenty of teams fighting for top 4, 

Man city

Arsenal

Newcastle

Brighton 

Man utd 

Spurs 

Aston villa 

Chelsea 

Liverpool

That's 9 teams fighting for 4 places, so that's 9 teams that SHOULD be fighting for top 4, it's no longer a given any more that Chelsea will be a top 4 team, other teams half been rebuilding and putting squads together for years now, while we sat back buying the odd bit part player. Now all of a sudden we have done a huge overhaul of the club so many out so many in, just because we spent 1 billion means fuck all that's just the price it's cost to get rid and bring in, all these players are young and inexperienced for NOW, few years time they will have the experience and will have grown as players that we should be technically fighting for the title by then. Unfortunately time has to be given and if people can't soon get to grips with this fact and spend all there energy and time banging on about money we have spent etc etc, then the next few years are going to be torture for you.

Edited September 8, 2023 by YorkshireBlue