This is a syndication of the article originally published for the BBC, here.
It was a very solid transfer window for Chelsea, but one which just fell short of being really exceptional.
Unlike last year, where it was hard to identify where the team had really improved over the summer, the Blues added first team quality and depth through the squad.
Sales were also always going to be important this summer, and on that front things went even better, starting with an unexpected windfall for Joao Felix from Saudi Arabia. The club were able to cash in on some of their successful buy low, sell high gambles from years past: Renato Veiga and Noni Madueke were both flipped for serious profit. That created the headroom necessary for another major shakeup of the first XI.
Chelsea’s big buys start strong after exciting summer
Joao Pedro has hit the ground running up front and looks to finally have brought a consistent goalscorer to Stamford Bridge. The most hyped transfer was one arranged more than a year ago – Estevao Willian is probably the most exciting attacking signing at Chelsea since Eden Hazard. But less glamorous additions like Jorrel Hato and the return of Andrey Santos will be just as important in a long season competing on four fronts.
Moves for Facundo Buonanotte and Alejandro Garnacho feel like gambles – but ones the club can afford to take after such a strong summer of selling.
Of course it wasn’t a perfect window – Robert Sanchez is still the first choice goalkeeper, and there does feel a risk in relying on the injury prone Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile as important defensive options in a season we know Levi Colwill is going to miss.
Nicolas Jackson’s departure to Bayern Munich was a deal too good to miss – but it’s a gamble and it will only take a couple of injuries up front for it to backfire.
Will Faulks @willfaulks
How is it the directors are being given such a pass on the absolute you-what-show they put on in the final hours of the window. Yes, there were some good buys and some even better sales, but even setting aside the glaring failure to obtain a world class keeper, the panicked recall of Guiu and emergency loan for Buonanotte surely deserve to be questioned. How naive do the directors have to be to think that they had adequate cover in Delap, Pedro and Palmer to keep the Chelsea center if attack locked and loaded through 50-60 games. Maybe no one could have foreseen the crisis arising in just the first weeks of the season, but a crisis at some point in the season was entirely predictable and, as the final days of the window proved, they hadn’t adequately prepared (by lining up more depth at the 9 & 10 BEFORE loaning Guiu and Jackson and selling Nkunku.
As the Xavi Simons rumors unfolded you felt they saw the need for the player’s versatility because Pedro was the primary depth at both the 9 & 10 (and he obviously can’t do both at the same time!). But then as Palmer went down and the Simons deal seemed to go up in smoke (even before Delap pulled up lame), we didn’t see or hear any evidence of that they had a Plan B for Simons. All eyes were on Garnacho and getting Nkunku and Jackson fully out the door. Cue the early minutes of the Fulham game and now they’re absolutely scrambling. Wild rumors about Fermin (who reporting indicates was never interested in a move to Chelsea), the panicked call to Jackson and Sunderland. But why is nobody asking the question: How did the directors put themselves in the position to face this sudden panic when anyone with eyes could see where the squad was thin!? Injuries are a part of football and it wasn’t like we lost two strikers in two weeks. We merely lost one and our starting 10. That is not a scenario that SHOULD have resulted in panic because it should have been an eventuality that we planned for by having at least two quality players at every position.
So, sure give the directors credit where credit is due for Pedro, Delap, etc. and the many, many sales, but it shouldn’t stop us from asking essential (and entirely fair) questions about their long-term planning (or lack thereof) and how it resulted in chaos in the final hours of the window.