As the dust settles on a frantic and truly surprising opening weekend of English Premier League football, attention again turns to the transfer market which remains open for another fortnight or so, before returning to football at the weekend.
During this period, West Brom have signed Salomon Rondon, Xherdan Shaqiri will join Stoke City and Manchester United will prepare to have Pedro join from Barcelona. In the meantime, Manchester City continue to chase Kevin De Bruyne and Tottenham are reportedly in the hunt for three attackers.
In all of this, where are the league champions? Apparently about to conclude a deal for Augsburg left back, Abdul Baba Rahman. Their fresh £30m bid for Everton’s John Stones may yet be accepted but initial reports suggest it may be turned down, according to the Telegraph.
Even if the Blues end up landing both the players, it will not signify a turning point in their hopes this season. All their major rivals have strengthened with both quality and quantity all over their squads. Chelsea, meanwhile, retain a sparse squad, where Radamel Falcao and Asmir Begovic cannot inspire victories – at least yet. As much as Oscar impressed in the 2-2 stalemate against Swansea, concerns remain over Chelsea’s attack which continues to rely excessively on the mercurial talents of Eden Hazard. On a day when he has a bad game and Cesc Fabregas is contained, creativity is far from Chelsea’s team.
This summer, Jose Mourinho could have done with a combative, all-action midfielder who could add a touch of creativity and be a game changer. Juan Cuadrado, Victor Moses and Bertrand Traore for all the optimism surrounding the latter two, are not game changers. Chelsea may boast arguably the best and most complete starting eleven in all of England, but it takes a squad not an eleven to win trophies. Chelsea lacks a complete squad right now.
Arda Turan was within touching distance but the Blues’ interest petered out once Barcelona became involved. They lost out.
Arturo Vidal was obviously available, but for some reason Chelsea didn’t show any interest. Again, they lost out to a European rival. Vidal’s national teammate Charles Aranguiz was linked to Chelsea for several weeks; now he appears to be on the brink of joining Bayer Leverkusen. Axel Witsel, who many hoped and fantasized had been signed by Roman Abramovich, remains in Russia.
The biggest fantasy of many a Chelsea supporter was that Antoine Griezmann would join from Atletico; that deal didn’t even reach first negotiations. But the most inexplicable of deals boycotted by Chelsea this year was that of Douglas Costa, now at Bayern Munich.
Courted for several months, Costa was more than interested in linking up with Jose Mourinho last January. For some reason, a bid never materialised. For a club in dire need of a player of Costa’s ability, it beats imagining that Chelsea would watch contentedly as Costa joined Bayern. His dazzling early season form shows just how much Chelsea have lost.
Now Chelsea look set to again lose out on an affordable attacking option with Pedro closer to a move to another of Chelsea’s domestic rivals. The implication of Chelsea’s lax approach in the transfer window will be immediate and in the long term.
Last season, Mourinho relied on a trusted core of players and he got lucky except with Diego Costa. This time around, suspensions will abound (Thibaut Courtois is already serving a one match ban) and injuries will take their toll. Fatigue will be ever so accumulated and form will vary. What happens at times like that?
With all of Chelsea’s rivals, home and abroad, doing a significant squad upgrade, one can safely say that Chelsea – so effective and decisive in the transfer market recently – have been left behind; and they will have a tough task replicating their league and cup double success. Maybe, just maybe, the goal that knocks them out of league contention will be scored by old boy De Bruyne.