You're right, the squad as currently constructed isn't cohesive and wasn't well thought out. In fact the summer window kind of exasperated that problem a further because the new recruitment structure and directors weren't in place until after the window closed.
But since then look at the moves being made:
David Datro Fofana (£10.6m, Molde)
Benoit Badiashile (£33.6m, Monaco)
Andrey Santos (£11m, Vasco da Gama)
Joao Felix (loan, Atletico Madrid)
Mykhaylo Mudryk (£62.5m, Shakhtar Donetsk)
Noni Madueke (£30.7m, PSV Eindhoven)
Average age of 20 years old.
There's talk today that the door is open for Felix being made permanent if he does well. Linked again today with Enzo (22 years old) and Gusto (19). And I haven't even mentioned Cobham guys like Reece or Colwill yet.
Would the new recruitment team have paid 50m for Sterling? 33m for Kouliably? Would they have got Aubameyang? Looking at the moves they've made so far and the players we're linked with it's a resounding no.
They're clearly serious about building a good young team and whether Potter is the man remains to be seen. He did get a lot of praise for his work at Brighton. I personally think De Zerbi has improved on that but they had the foundations of a good team in place so Potter deserves some credit for that.
By the way, we have quite a few players with contracts expiring in the next 6-18 months like Jorginho, Kante, Silva, Pulisic, Azpilicueta, Kovacic, Aubameyang just to name a few. That's even more money freeing up for the club to better allocate.
I'm not saying Chelsea will win the treble next season but I'll bet we won't have to wait as long as Arsenal did to become good again. shyt, call me crazy but if we sign Enzo and get a few players back from injury like Kante and Reece we could go on a Champions League run this season. Stranger things have happened.
1. The Mudryk deal was 108 million stop capping.
2. Felix AND Mudryk AND Havertz AND Raheem AND Pulisic AND Madueke AND Aubameyang AND Zyeich AND Gallagher and that's not even all of your attacking players. Kante isn't the same player. What's happening with the middle of the park and in the defense? Again, its clownshoes team building.
But even with that YOU CAN'T SCORE. You have perhaps the widest selection of attacking players of nearly any club in England. And. you. can't. score. That's on the manager and he ain't going anywhere right now.
3. Injury is a big issue. For sure. Would never take that from a team. James is fantastic. But if he can't stay healthy does it even matter?
4. The problem with those contracts is outside of Aubameyang, there's no way the rest of them don't re-sign, even for potentially reduced wages. Again, bloat on the roster and an asinine spending policy are the problem. Potter's gotta put his foot down and literally ship some of these man off. The only ones that SHOULD stay are Kovacic and Azpi (he's a servant to the club) the rest have run their course. But I'm telling you now that won't happen. And they'll actively have lost millions on all of these players. I don't see the club OR the fans willing to let go of most of those guys.
5. Will Chelsea finish 10th? Probably not. But, in half a season, do I see them out performing Brighton, Fulham, United, Tottenham, Newcastle or Liverpool? Consistently, no. Even if you leapfrog Liverpool, Fulham and Brighton..that top 4 of Arsenal, City, United and Newcastle don't look like they are going anywhere.
) and Kovacic (genuinely one of our worst performers and a useless dribble merchant with zero end product most of the time) lets me know you have very little idea what's actually required or happening at Chelsea. And to be fair you support another club so it's fine for you not to know these things but acting like you do is wild.
