There is still time and chances to get the business rolling at Stamford Bridge, as the final days of this summer’s transfer window are approaching. Roman Abramovich and Chelsea’s board have been taking it easy so far, but it’s time to act as just three signings aren’t pleasing enough for new Blues boss Antonio Conte and the title-craving and defeat-repulsing Chelsea fans.
Many reports have set fire to the booth linking quality candidates to the rejuvenated Chelsea team, but no real success has been found. Of course, we managed to start the off-season brightly after clinching the deals for Leicester star N’Golo Kanté and young Belgian promise Michy Batshuayi before the competitive ball was ever kicked. We also completed the transfer for Portuguese keeper Eduardo on Thursday.
Bathsuayi has been on fire recently, bagging three goals in his first three Chelsea games, also succoring Diego Costa to score the winning goal against West Ham in our Premier League opener. Kanté on the other hand has cemented his place in Conte’s starting line-up and is resuming his world-class performances we saw from him in The Foxes’ title winning season.
Batsman begins. Batshuayi had a decent start at #CFC.
⏱ 3 games
⏲ 114 mins
⚽️ 3 goals
🅰 1 assist
GIF: @ElevenBE_nl pic.twitter.com/cRruZBALPU— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) August 25, 2016
However, the fans nor the manager are settling for only two fresh additions. The Italian has publicly stated his unhappiness on the lack of transfer activity this summer, and continues to arraign the ‘crazy’ transfer market and high prices for even players of ‘medium’ caliber.
Board key to miscarriage
Conte blames the price tags, while we Chelsea fans incriminate the club’s technical director Michael Emenalo and rest of the board. It’s evident how slow-acting we are when considering the effort we should be putting to actually sign new players successfully. Take a look at José Mourinho for example – the ex-Chelsea manager had no luck bringing world-class additions to West London during his last summer here, and when joining Manchester United two months ago, he has already managed to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Old Traffod, while Chelsea are simply left with dismay.
As we all are aware, new defenders are inevitable, as we can’t go through the season (or even until Janury transfer window) with just two fit center-backs. Kurt Zouma is still recovering from his ACL tear, and won’t be back until October at the earliest, meaning Conte has to settle with our two stout Englishmen John terry and Gary Cahill. A full-back should also come handy, since we only have Cesar Azpilicueta and Branislav Ivanovic on the wide defensive duty, as Baba Rahman was sent on loan and Academy breakthrough Ola Aina suffered a knee injury in our EFL Cup victory over Bristol Rovers with the confirmed return date yet to be announced.
https://twitter.com/CarefreeDaily/status/768797560689614848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Chelsea have been knocked down in their efforts of bringing in all sort of defensive reinforcements, with Serie A being the main scouting soil. Juventus have refused to let go of Leonardo Bonucci and Kwadwo Asamoah, while Napoli’s stubborn negotiating manners wasted Chelsea a million meaningless bids for Kalidou Koulibaly. Also-an-Arsenal-target Shkodran Mustafi was heavily linked to Chelsea, but you can probably guess the rest of the story – we didn’t accomplish signing him.
Most recently, AC Milan rejected two over £30m offers from Chelsea for 21-year-old center-half Alessio Romagnoli, as the Serie A side issue the Blues to keep their hands away from the young Italian.
There’s still hope!
As bad our situation might sound like, there’s still hope of turning things around. Since we have missed out on all these four attractive targets above, we move on to find new ones. Like a pair of Rodriguez’s!
Chelsea are reportedly ready to launch an offer for the unsettled Torino FC defender Nikola Maksimovic, who has long been considered as Napoli’s replacement for Koulibaly, should he ever had gone. The Serbia international is familiar with Blues players Nemanja Matic and Ivanovic through the national team, and is valued around £25m by the Italian club.
A full-back can also been seen in the horizon, as Chelsea have started monitoring Wolfsburg left-back Ricardo Rodriguez, who is said to be available for £17m. Should the deal fall through, once again, Juve right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner is also a widely reported target for Conte.
Chelsea have also balanced the should and could on buying a new central midfielder, having shelved their plans of a new striker after getting turned down in big-money offers for Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata. Defensive recruitment are the main priority at the moment, but it hasn’t stopped media linking Chelsea with negotiations of bringing Real Madrid star James Rodriguez to the Bridge.
Alternatively, the Blues have been offered 18-year-old wonder-kid Thiago Maia, who is willing to leave Brazilian side Santos to move to Europe. Portuguese goalkeeper Eduardo has also confirmed a possible Chelsea move, as the official announcement is set to take place in the coming days.
And for the some of you – Au revoir!
Were there any new players to be signed or not, departures are on the cards. When being announced as the new Chelsea manager, Conte was hailed for his ability of rebuilding teams by selling a lot and buying a lot in return. However, his desires in England haven’t really been that way. Many names have been offloaded, and here are some more to come…
Asmir Begovic is on the go as Chelsea haven’t matched his standards of first-team football, and so brought in Eduardo. No takers are yet being reported for the Bosnia and Herzegovina international, but it’s likely to see him go in the coming days.
From the winger department, Chelsea youngster Kenedy and Juan Cuadrado are set to move out on loan. The Brazilian was already going to Watford, but something went wrong and he returned to Chelsea to train with the rest of the first-team. Cuadrado as well has been left on the sidelines in Chelsea’s first three games of the season, as he is bound to spend the season on loan at Juventus, once again.
Loic Remy could also be loaned out, as interest has emerged from around Europe. Olympique Lyonnais are keen on re-signing the Frenchman, while Premier League sides Crystal Palace and West Ham are also hoping to house the striker.
No more panic bids, please!
As my last note, I would like Chelsea to not hit the panic button in the final stages of transfer window, like we did last season. As you all can probably recall, we gave a quite desperate effort on signing PSG defender Marquinhos, making two big offers for him – first a £26m bid, followed by an increased £40m bid.
Both of the offers were turned down.
Just like that we accomplished to sign a £3m bench-warmer called Papy Djilobodji (who has now signed for Sunderland) and already a forgot man Michael Hector (who was loaned out to Frankfurt this summer). Those are the kinds of mistakes we have no means to perform.
Will Chelsea be able to keep up with the ample-spending Manchester clubs, or do we have to keep our season target at finishing in top four? The time is ticking, so there’s not a lot of time until we find out!
