Jacob Steinberg’s piece on Chelsea’s transfer window released today has some interesting notes.
He claims that manager Enzo Maresca had made specific requests to those signing players for him:
“Chelsea’s new head coach, had asked for two positions to be strengthened before the end of the transfer window. He wanted a centre-back and a top No 9… Late on Friday night, though, the recruitment team had to admit defeat in their attempt to convince [Victor] Osimhen to fit into Chelsea’s stringent wage structure. There was no new centre-back either, although there was still a flurry of activity.
We could have predicted those would be the positions he wanted to be strengthened. In fact, we’re surprised he hasn’t also asked for a goalkeeper and a proper defensive midfielder too. All four of those have been lingered problems for some time, and the sporting directors seeming obsession with signing more wide and creative attacking players is even more strange in the context of those urgent needs.
The piece goes on to detail the push for Victor Osimhen, and how it all fell apart because of the demands of the striker. That’s fair enough – but weren’t those demands pretty predictable? Couldn’t they have been established months ago?
The dust settles after a crazy window
Chelsea have certainly added some good players this summer, but in order to do so they had to sell and loan some very good players too. While the squad is certainly different, it’s hard to say it looks that much better, and it’s still lacking in those key positions.
If our defensive options live up to their potential and Nicolas Jackson keeps improving, we might be ok. But those are big question marks. We can’t imagine Maresca has been filled with confidence in the competence of his superiors now.
So which is it, SuperFrank? Are you suggesting we never should have tried for Osimhen in the first place or that we should have given in to his wage demands??? Honestly, you seem to be complaining that we tried to leverage him down and failed and that just seems silly since we lost nothing in the process! As it played out, we maneuvered into a relatively strong bargaining position because we caught him late on, desperate to stay in Europe and with nothing on the table except an offer from Saudi Arabia. Earlier in the window he was always going to have the upper hand, so your whole criticism of the club seems pointless at best and disingenuous at worst. As usual, it feels like you’re griping just because you like to gripe!
The new ownership of Chelsea should be investigated. Most of us do not understand their motive for taking over the team? They took over a team as a European and World Club Cup Champions but have destroyed the Club with their mediocratic and anti football ideas! Honestly they should be investigated by the English FA to unveiled their mission in Chelsea
Chelsea ex Season ticket holder West Stand Lower now living in the USA, Ticket holder for some 30 years, I am disgusted with the current ownership, and their lack of understanding on how to run our club. I fail to understand why Boehly is still the Chelsea mouthpiece. In any other business he would have been sacked for incompetence. I have after many years given up on true support of a team i have loved and supported for more than 6o years
You’re absolutely right, and I’m beginning to wonder if this was the Chelsea team i used to love so much under Roman, Chelsea wasn’t just a business for him unlike this new owner
When you truly are prepared to return to winning ways, and be the signpost of English football, you will get that one player capable of turning things around for your team. And you know who that is. Better pull out the money, and do the right thing!