It is ironic Chelsea are looking to a former player to fix their defensive crisis – but also totally unsurprising.
That is because selling high quality players, particularly in defence, is precisely what got them into this mess.
Despite the fact Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and Thiago Silva had all entered the final year of their contracts, the Blues decided to shift a bunch of young and promising defenders during the summer of 2021.
It is pure fortune that Azpilicueta and Silva were able to agree deals before the Blues were hit with sanctions on ex-owner Roman Abramovich, which ultimately led to the departures of Christensen and Rudiger for free.
Now Chelsea find themselves in a desperate hunt for reinforcements. What would manager Thomas Tuchel give to have Fikayo Tomori, Kurt Zouma and Marc Guehi at his disposal right now?
Both Guehi and Tomori, now at Crystal Palace and AC Milan respectively, have established themselves as full-blown England internationals since leaving Stamford Bridge.
Meanwhile, Zouma – despite his cat-kicking controversy – has established himself as one of West Ham’s most important players.
Throw Manchester City star Ake into the mix and Chelsea could build a pretty solid defence if they just held onto the talent they already had.
It is a mistake that even the club seem to accept amid talks to re-sign Ake, who left Chelsea for Bournemouth in a £20m deal in 2017 and then joined City for double that amount in 2020.
Regrettable sales have already cost Chelsea dear after they re-signed Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan for a club-record £98.5m, only to loan him back to the San Siro club earlier this summer.
Besides their defence, Tuchel’s ongoing search for a new forward would probably be less stressful if the club kept Liverpool sensation Mohamed Salah.
And the midfield would probably look pretty decent had they been more patient with Declan Rice and Kevin De Bruyne.
In fact, the Blues continue to be linked with a £100m move for ex-academy star Rice, too.
All-in-all, Chelsea’s transfer problems are not the result of the recent ownership crisis, they are self-inflicted mistakes.
If Ake and Rice eventually join Lukaku back on the books, the Blues will be going some way to rebuilding this outrageous ‘reject XI’…
Disclaimer: Thibaut Courtois feels a little unfair on Chelsea given he pushed to leave, but we couldn’t put Guehi in goal.
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