Let’s be clear, €130m on one participant is a psychological sum of cash, significantly when that participant has simply six months of European expertise to their identify.
Chelsea have hit the panic button as their ageing, underperforming squad continues to tumble down the Premier League desk, and the answer seems to be a €130m transfer for Benfica’s Enzo Fernandez, who might have been signed for 10% of that charge simply six months in the past.
If Chelsea had been smarter six months in the past, they may have signed him then, however that is the issue. The Blues’ recruitment hasn’t been sensible for some time now, with midfield the place to have suffered most.
A difficulty within the boardroom at Stamford Bridge was Chelsea‘s view of points in a literal sense. In the event that they weren’t scoring objectives, it might solely be due to poor attackers. In the event that they had been conceding an excessive amount of, the defenders alone had been accountable. What concerning the midfield, the bit that glues every part collectively?
Chelsea’s passing stats have all the time been good, as you’d count on in a midfield with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, and for no matter cause, that has been sufficient to persuade the decision-makers that funding in that space of the pitch did not should be a precedence.
This summer season, Chelsea signed a long-term mission in Carney Chukwuemeka and a short-term repair in Denis Zakaria, the latter of whom joined on mortgage with an choice to purchase 12 months after the identical experiment with Saul Niguez failed miserably.
To search out the final time Chelsea signed a ready-made midfielder, it’s worthwhile to head again to 2019 for Kovacic’s switch ban-enforced arrival from Actual Madrid. So, practically 4 years since Chelsea really recruited a concrete piece for his or her midfield.
Within the years since, Chelsea have signed: six forwards, 4 centre-backs, two left-backs and two goalkeepers. Other than the younger Chukwuemeka and a few stop-gap loans, the place is the midfield reinforcement?
Hyper-focus on different points left Chelsea’s midfield excessive and dry, and we’re seeing the outcomes of that now. Jorginho is 31 and approaching the tip of his contract. N’Golo Kante is 31, perennially injured and in addition approaching the tip of his contract. Kovacic is just a few months away from turning 29. The one actual injection has been the return from mortgage of 22-year-old Conor Gallagher who, for no matter cause, has performed a restricted function this season.
It is stale, and issues have fallen thus far downhill that Chelsea cannot sit again and watch anymore. They should act instantly, and in Fernandez, it seems as if they’ve discovered their dream goal.
Fernandez boasts the skillset Chelsea want. He is an incredible passer with the kind of risk-taking tendencies wanted to make issues occur on the highest stage, however he additionally matches into the fashionable mould of a midfielder due to his willingness to do the soiled work. It is not both/or with Fernandez, it is each – one thing Chelsea have not had in a midfielder for years now.
Chelsea’s midfield has been imbalanced and underfunded for too lengthy, a lot in order that they should take these sorts of dangers to get themselves out of this gap earlier than it is too late. The Blues cannot afford to let gamers like Fernandez cross them by, and it seems as if Todd Boehly and the shot-callers recognise that.
In a dream world, the spending should not cease right here. Alexis Mac Allister might comply with his fellow countryman, and his former boss, to Chelsea, whereas West Ham’s Declan Rice is one other excellent instance of the kind of signing the membership ought to have made about three years in the past.
It is all come too late, however not less than it is lastly being fastened.
