Transfer Window Review: Have Chelsea upgraded on last season?

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Another frantic summer window slams shut over the debris of collapsed deals, kicking up dust of broken promises. And if Clearlake’s transfer Bible across their first five windows suggested that there would be the genesis of a strong footballing core, the sixth focused largely on exodus. 316.5m raised, not counting Nicolas Jackson’s sizable loan fee from Bayern Munich - a record amount for a club in a single window. Which now leaves ample time for reflection & analysis.

The Nine

When Liam Delap pulled up when chasing a long ball down the left flank, clouds of worry wafted from down on the field and into the VIP boxes at Stamford Bridge. With Jackson’s loan move already sanctioned, it is not an understatement to suggest that the overriding sentiment among the hierarchy must have been chaos.

Centerforwards are football’s most expensive commodity for a reason, just ask Liverpool, who shelled out a club record €145m for Alexander Isak. Nick Woltemade, just 23, with two Germany caps to his name, went for €80m to Newcastle, who also paid €63.5m for Yoanne Wissa, who turns 29 today. Those are sizable sums to pay, considering Chelsea signed Delap for €35.5m, Jackson for €37m and Guiu for €6m.

An enquiry for Sporting’s Conrad Harder does suggest the SDs were tempted to find an alternative, likely on loan. The Danish youth international would have arrived at a point between Guiu and Delap, playing ahead of the young Catalan but perhaps unable to trump Delap post-injury. It is perhaps why he chose Leipzig instead, and the SDs opted to terminate Guiu’s loan.

While not panic buying is commendable, it leaves Chelsea with a fair few problems, at least until January. Playing Joao Pedro as the 9 comes at the risk of losing a lot of what makes him devastating inside the box. Contrast how well he performed when under claustrophobia-inducing marking from Lacroix as a 9 to the freedom he had as a 10 in the other two games. 4 G/A in 2 games tells its own story.

Putting him back there will produce stellar showings like those in the CWC, but will also put out those against Palace will CBs that jail-mark him will nullify him altogether. And that is where Maresca needs a different solution. Tyrique George has repeatedly featured as a CF under him but in his latest outing at Fulham he was subbed on, attempted zero passes in 35 minutes and was subbed off in the 67th minute. Pedro Neto has played there and offered some variety; Alejandro Garnacho has played there in his youth days and would offer a similar option. All three however, are far from ideal. Short term pain for long term gain is one a nice philosophy, but it seldom ever works for fans or teams in football.

Depth in Attack

Losing two of your three most prolific shot-takers is never good, but Alejandro Garnacho’s 3.5 shots/90 on average plugs the gap nicely on a wing that has cried out for a stellar wing threat for ages. The other question that needed answering - what if Palmer’s dry streak last season recurred this season? Xavi Simons was courted all summer but curiously, no bid went in even after Tottenham stepped in. His G/A numbers aligned really well with any player with a prayer of challenging Palmer’s throne.

Brighton’s Facundo Buonanotte was chosen as the unlikely heir, and the left-footed right winger who can also play as the 10 like Palmer. With 20 G/A in 95 appearances, expectations of any blistering start will remain modest, but Buonanotte was highly regarded before he was snapped up by the Seagulls. And if there’s one thing they know, it is how to spot talent before it shows on the big stage.

In Defence of the Defence

It was only in September last year after a win over West Ham that Enzo Maresca waxed lyrical about Wesley Fofana. In a London is Blue Special not long after, Matt Law revealed that Maresca believed Chelsea were a completely different team with Fofana and that he was one of the best CBs in the PL. That relationship has turned frosty since, a recent Instagram controversy, Maresca’s public jibe, stating that “Fofana played 45 minutes in that position against Bournemouth and it was probably one of the worst halves since we started.” His continuing injury issues would only have exacerbated existing frustration. Losing one half of the fabled Colwill-Fofana PL winning pairing was bad enough, losing both is a significant issue.

With the only other LCB in Benoit Badiashile also injured, that leaves two right-footed CBs in Tosin and Chalobah to play as the LCB. One of the issues this causes was astutely explained by Fahd, in this tweet, illustrating how Fulham tweaked their press to target the left CB due to passing angles making it hard to pass or switch out of pressure.

The market for CBs was intriguing to say the least. Marc Guehi, a former Cobham graduate, was available for around 35m and almost ended up at Liverpool barring a last minute threat from Palace’s manager to resign over losing his captain without an adequate replacement. Guehi is a right footer, but has played on Palace’s left. So if he was good enough for Liverpool, why did Chelsea not move for him considering the ties?

Friend of the pod, Ben Jacobs, did indicate that Guehi would not have been keen on a move back home because of the competition there would be in a World Cup year when Colwill was back from injury. At Liverpool, with Van Dijk approaching the twilight of his career and Ibrahima Konate out of contract next year, there is an easier route. Data also tends to be generous for CBs playing in back 3s, so it would be interesting to see where he ends up after running down his deal next season.

Goalkeeper

First impressions are last impressions, and perhaps that is Robert Sanchez’s curse. At one point he was joint top GK Europe for errors leading to goals, and even heroics in the CWC did not do much to alleviate the uneasiness every Chelsea fan feels when the ball rolls towards his feet. AC Milan’s Mike Maignan, on the final year of his deal, presented a tantalizing opportunity for an upgrade - France’s #1, multiple title wins under his belt and in his peak at the age of 30. Maignan, going by multiple reports, was keen as well, but it is quite interesting that multiple sides in need of GKs - Manchester United, Manchester City being two - pursued other targets.

Good goalkeepers shine in bad teams, but Maignan possessed a faint glow at best. He is undeniably a very good keeper, but for reasons beyond the grasp of commoners with publicly available data like you and I, these reasons feel beyond reach. Sanchez’s numbers, despite the trauma evident amidst them, are quite impressive.

He is by all means a colossus in the air, and fortunately his gaffes have not affected his confidence in how assured he is when commanding his area. Whether he has earned the faith to continue as the #1 is subjective across the Chelsea fanbase, but it is hard to argue that there is enough there to give him what he has earned recently.

With Palmer, Delap, Lavia already injured, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo appearing leggy from a non-existent break (the latter has already taken a 12 hour flight to Paraguay for the World Cup qualifiers), this season will put Maresca’s mettle as a firefighter to the ultimate test. Can Joao Pedro produce his best consistently as a 9? Can a younger, less PL proven attack recreate or better last season’s output? How will Chelsea’s 2nd choice CB pairing fare against 1st choice attacks? The answers to those questions will decide the fate of Chelsea’s season.