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Chelsea are in the middle of a sale at the moment. The bidders have been narrowed down to four and are now doing their due diligence. The final bid date is April 14 after which Raine Group should put forward a preferred bidder. The consortium, headed by Todd Boehly, is the only clear option in many fans' opinion.
Boehly’s consortium offers little controversy, has good funding and the LA Dodgers are a well-run baseball team. The Ricketts have a controversial past, while the Broughton consortium and Pagliuca’s bid have existing football clubs that they run and will have to sell their shares in those teams. Regardless of who comes in, the club will have to be smart in their transfer business going forward.
Chelsea's Scouting Overhaul
Chelsea scouting was effective when Michael Emenalo ran the show in terms of recruitment. Players like Mohammad Salah and Kevin De Bruyne, among others, are some of the now famous names that were first bought by the club. If Chelsea had a more tolerant and nurturing manager back then maybe these players would have become pivotal to the club's success.
They have found success with the likes of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar, Cesar Azpilicueta and John Obi-Mikel. More recently, Kai Havertz is another player who has come into the club at a young age and done well. The success rate and frequency of such transfers has diminished though and Emenalo’s departure has been a big reason for that.
Take Romelu Lukaku for example, Chelsea needed a striker last summer to lead the line. It is quite clear now that Chelsea just looked at the raw number of goals and assists and decided Lukaku was a good option. Styles of play, attributes, etc., were all ignored. Lukaku does not fit the way the club wants to play. Kai Havertz, on the other hand, has thrived in recent weeks as a striker. A club record €113 million has seemingly gone down the drain.
Another example is Saul Niguez. The Spaniard was brilliant at Atletico Madrid but in recent seasons until injuries cost him regular game time. Diego Simeone was not even selecting him in his midfield. A prodigious talent in Aurélien Tchouaméni was available, but Scott McLachlan, Chelsea’s head of international scouting, decided Saul was a cheaper and safer bet. The reality is clearly different, as everybody knows.
Backing Thomas Tuchel
It’s safe to say that most fans would happily keep Thomas Tuchel over any existing Blues player at the moment. The way he has handled himself and led the club through the Super League fiasco, COVID, and the sale, all while juggling a divorce, has been exceptional. Tuchel seems like a manager who can build a legacy of continued success at the club. However, he needs to be backed up strongly.
The club spends money, but how they spend and on whom they spend has been a big issue, especially after a season of success. In the 2010 transfer window, the season after Carlo Ancelotti won the title, players like Ramires, Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Kalas, and Matej Delac were signed by the club. It’s fair to say bar Ramires, none of those players painted themselves in glory.
Then there was the infamous 2015 window, which was followed by Jose Mourinho win the title. The club bought Pedro from Barcelona. Several other players like Michael Hector and Papy Djilobodji were also bought, but they did not make much difference to the club's fortunes. Antonio Conte was backed in the summer of 2017 but only Antonio Rudiger and Willy Caballero achieved long-term success.
The club's best transfer window, which followed major success, was in 2012 when they bought Hazard, Oscar, Victor Moses, Azpilicueta, and Marko Marin. Apart from Marin, the other players turned out to be good purchases for the club. A sum of £86.2 million was spent and the returns were exponential. Such transfers have to happen more often if the club wishes to achieve long-term success.
Expensive purchases like Kai Havertz etc should happen on occasion. The club should spend a good amount on future stars such as Tchouameni and Declan Rice. For other positions like left-back and its cover, good scouting should be done. Marc Cucurella of Brighton & Hove Albion seems like an excellent option on the left. On the right, the club have a buy-back option in Tino Livramento that will potentially be available from 2023.
The club could also look at their extremely talented pool of on-loan players such as Conor Gallagher, Armando Broja, and Levi Colwill. They have had stunning seasons at their respective clubs. Chelsea don’t need to spend on volume, they need to spend on players who they know will fit in their system. Something like what Liverpool did with buying Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.
The club will need to decide on their new owner quickly if all of the above needs to be accomplished. Todd Boehly's consortium was the front-runner to become the new owner at the time of writing. The process needs to be wrapped up urgently as all major European clubs are already acquiring their required transfer targets while Chelsea’s hands are tied at the moment. Sell the club, tweak the transfer strategy and reap the rewards.
