Chelsea under Roman Abramovich were ruthless and successful. If the manager did not work they would be out of the door and similar conditions were put on players. But along with being ruthless, they were also reckless and careless. Teams like Manchester United under Sir Alex, Manchester City under Pep, and Liverpool under Klopp all have one thing in common when they make a transfer: Is the player fit for the system or could the player have another dimension that helps in making the system better.
Chelsea haven’t had a manager last for 2 and a half seasons (Mourinho in both spells) thus it is very difficult to have one clear philosophy at the club. All sorts of managers have been hired at Stamford Bridge. The defensive minds of Mourinho, Rafa Benítez, Conte & Tuchel, managers with attacking styles like Ancelotti, Sarri, and even managers with little experience like Lampard, Villas-Boas, and Di Matteo. This muddled thinking has not allowed several players to properly develop as well.
Rather than how good the player is individually these managers and their respective scouting staff have focused on recruiting players which could fit their footballing philosophies rather than the other way round. We could use the examples of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane at Liverpool. Both were really good players but Klopp saw that these players could be molded into their ideas and thus he could help them maximize their potential and benefit their teams in the process.
On the contrary, we could take Chelsea’s example of Romelu Lukaku who clearly did not fit into the manager’s ideas and the philosophy with which Thomas Tuchel wanted to play with. The two-time European champions wanted Romelu to play like a traditional forward, pouncing on every set piece and cross that the team made. Although the Belgian could do that, Romelu’s biggest strengths were the ability to hold up play with his back to goal and to run the channels. Due to both the manager and player’s unwillingness to back down this transfer failed massively.
SIGNING PLAYERS WAY PAST THEIR PRIMES
We have used this saying because The Blues have had a history of splashing money on the shiniest available players on the market. It’s all and well good to pay big sums for players who will produce for that price point but signing players past their primes is utterly stupid. Radamel Falcao and Gonzalo Higuain are the two prime examples.
Falcao who moved to AS Monaco suffered a big ACL injury which meant he lost some of the ferociousness he had as a striker. Having already failed at loan on Manchester United under Van Gaal, Jose backed himself to turn this player’s career around but failed miserably, getting himself sacked after a poor start with the Colombian scoring once in 12 appearances. Once a great player, he was just a shadow of himself. Higuain is another example and clearly was signed due to his past history with Sarri but this move too did not yield a lot of fruition.
INJURY ISSUES OR SOME OTHER ISSUES
Only 40% of the transfers work out according to the Transfer Price Index Coefficient (TPIC). Patchy injury records & issues outside of football are some of the reasons that transfer does not work out along with the reasons stated above. Chelsea have also had some tough luck in this area. Like Fernando Torres who was amazing at Liverpool, playing four seasons and scoring 81 times at Anfield. Jamie Carragher even said in an interview, “I’d played with Torres for the last 12 months [and] he was a shadow of his former self.” The forward did not return due to injury issues which started to deteriorate his game. Even after being fit, Torres could find the rhythm he lost due to these issues.
Alvaro Morata on paper seemed to be a very good fit for Chelsea and even started in blistering fashion scoring ten goals before the month of December but an injury and other issues in his personal life started to affect him in a major manner and he was shipped to Atletico Madrid the next summer.
With the end of Roman Abramovich’s time at Chelsea, there is high hope that Todd Boehly changes the way in which Chelsea operates. His data driven-data approach is popular with baseball fans and has helped the Los Angeles Dodgers to win a World Series in 2020. Maybe he can also find the data for Chelsea’s long-lasting search for a striker who will end their number 9 curse as well.
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