Our writer Simon Phillips launched a host of exclusives on his Substack today, including one very interesting piece about Chelsea’s transfer philosophy.
We’ve heard from a few places now that the idea under the new ownership was a four window approach to overhauling the squad, with this summer providing the fourth and final opportunity for major change and major spending.
After this, the club are hoping to reach a “self sustained operation” where only minor tweaks are needed in each window. “The squad rebuild will be complete after this summer window has closed,” according to Phillips.
That means we can expect some quite significant moves, despite our tricky financial situation. The insider says he’s “expecting a pretty busy summer.” That will go for sales too – “Chelsea do need to and will sell players,” something that we’ve been conditioned to accept from a year of strong briefings, plus the financial realities of spending so much last summer.
A sensible policy – but we’ll believe it when we see it
It all makes sense as a strategy – and there’s no doubt that the squad that the new ownership inherited was in need of a refresh. However the logic of tearing it down all at once was questionable, and has seen us struggle to get back to where we were even with that flawed group.
We’re glad this will be the last window of major moves – what is needed now is stability and a coach getting the best out of these players, not endless additions and turnover every summer to confuse things further. A sensible plan and a long term approach, with one or two starters replaced every summer, is the way to go.
Just look at Real Madrid’s squad that is racking up Champions Leagues every year. There was no need for revolution there, just steady evolution to keep things fresh.
