Chelsea have bee praised and criticised for many of their new signings within the last couple of seasons.
The squad has been gutted out and completely changed within two years since the new owners came in to the club, and the massive changes have had a real effect, sometimes positively, and sometimes negatively. But it has made for a VERY inconsistent start for the new owners at the very least.
EXCLUSIVE! Chelsea scout Newcastle player this week and meet with Toon owners – Chelsea’s owners share a good relationship with Newcastle’s owners, and it could lead to some business!
We have more or less virtually changed the whole team in less than 2 years. pic.twitter.com/nxW7hDQtgB
— Frank Khalid OBE (@FrankKhalidUK) March 14, 2024
But one of the best and smartest signings they have made so far is Malo Gusto. The right back has been absolutely superb since arriving from Lyon in January 2023.
Fabrizio Romano recently confirmed the obvious and says that Chelsea have been ‘super happy’ with Gusto since he arrived.
🔵🇫🇷 Chelsea are super happy with the investment they made on Malo Gusto in January 2023.
Real fee spent to sign French RB was £26m, as #CFC anticipated two clubs from abroad also keen on Malo.
7 assists, excellent performances and club more than happy with his development. pic.twitter.com/weuP8zja2G
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 13, 2024
For me, I think they need to now use Gusto as the blueprint to new signings, proving that we don’t need to smash £100m on a single player and we could sign four top quality players like Gusto, who I call smart signings, for the price of one! It just makes too much sense for me and we should utilise the top talent spotters we now have at the club.
Sure, Simon, but isn’t that easier said than done, lol?!
I mean nobody knew for certain that Gusto was going to come in and sparkle right from the word go! We’ve spent similar (modest) money on other acquisitions which haven’t shown nearly as brightly, so it’s more than a little bit of 20/20 hindsight to say, “right, just do it like Gusto next time out.”
And besides that, you’re completely ignoring the INCREDIBLE pressure the fan base have put on ownership (both past and present) to break the bank on the shiniest new wunderkid in the shop window. It’s one thing to suggest we target modestly priced young diamonds in the rough and snap them up before anyone realizes just how good they are, but it’s an entirely different thing to implement that kind of policy in real life. Even if we could reliably ID them, pretty soon every club that sees us coming inflates their asking price because they assume our interest reflects some clairvoyance and that we’re so convinced of the player’s future worth we’ll pay whatever price they name.
I’m afraid it’s never been that simple and never will be. The best you can honestly hope for when buying really young players is maybe a 50% “win” percentage. That is, 50% of the youngsters you buy end up starring in your first team for 5-8 years and then you hope that the remainder pan out just well enough that, though they won’t star at a big club like Chelsea, you are able to sell them on at maybe 50-75% of the cost that you bought them at. But expecting that they can all be “just like Gusto” (i.e., incredible value for a 20-year old potential superstar) is honestly a pipe dream. I mean if it were that easy, dozens of clubs would already be doing it!