Gone are the days of reckless spending which facilitated the £50-million transfer of Fernando Torres. Indeed, Chelsea are undergoing a rather quiet and cost-efficient revolution in the new era of Financial Fair Play (FFP). José Mourinho’s second coming may well bring the success of a similar nature to his first spell with the recent captures of the Premier League and Capital One Cup, but the circumstances he now finds himself in are markedly different.
Upon his return to Stamford Bridge, Mourinho gleefully grinned to the press and announced himself as the ‘Happy One.’ Yet behind the scenes the rose tinted glasses had been removed and Mourinho was characteristically hard at work. He had soon identified any areas of weakness as he sought to build a side reminiscent of times gone by. The areas in question were central midfield and the attack, the targets: Benfica’s Nemanja Matić and Atlético’s Diego Costa.
However, as revealed by Fran Guillén, author of the newly published ‘Diego Costa: The Art of War’, Mourinho was forced to bide his time and wait until the funds were deemed ready to spend.
“José Mourinho had identified Costa as a primary target, a Didier Drogba-style centre-forward around whom he could forge a new winning machine. The Portuguese coach had watched Costa since he first arrived at Braga, and had felt the force of the striker during his breakout season close-up as manager of Real Madrid.”
“However, Mourinho had yet to persuade the owner of Chelsea, Roman Abramovich, to accelerate his rebuilding plans. In both acquiring new players and moving others on, the process would be gradual. For example, Benfica’s Nemanja Matić, another immediate target for the new manager, would have to wait until January 2014.”
One person who played a pivotal role in bringing the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ was Marina Granovskaia, arguably the most powerful woman in world football only to be overlooked due to her willingness to maintain a low profile. It was Granovskaia who flew to Spain to initiate talks between Chelsea and Mourinho, then manager of Real Madrid, whilst others doubted whether a reunion with Abramovich would truly bring the successes of 2004/5 and 2005/6.
Granovskaia is also the driving force on the transfer front, whilst a key figure in contract negotiations as Chelsea seek to reduce their wage bill and enforce the one-year contract rule for over 30’s. She is also the first point of contact when asking for Abramovich and maintains a regular dialogue with Mourinho concerning the first team, often on behalf of Chelsea’s Russian owner. Now she has seemingly won the trust of Mourinho in Chelsea’s new transfer policy.
“We cannot sell for £50 million and buy for £48 million. We have to sell for £20 million and buy for £5 million.” – José Mourinho, January 2014
Evidence of Mourinho’s willingness to cooperate with Granovskaia and co. is clear to see when examining the transfer window prior to Chelsea’s Premier League triumph last season. In the past Mourinho has been accused of ‘buying titles’, often splurging millions upon millions in consecutive windows. Conversely, recent figures suggest otherwise as Chelsea recorded a net profit of £5.95 million. If Mourinho bought the league, he did so for loose change if you will – figures below have been extracted from Transfermarkt.
| Earnings/Expenditure | Arrivals/Departures | Transfer Fee |
| Earnings | 46 | £102.34m |
| Expenditure | 49 | £96.39m |
The figures above signal a change in Chelsea’s transfer policy and echo the words of Mourinho in January 2014. A feature in recent windows has been a low risk, but high reward offensive, headed by technical director Michael Emenalo as Chelsea look to hoard young talent within and beyond Europe. This has been achieved by rigorous scouting to uncover relatively cheap, but potentially hugely talented young players and the full utilisation of the loan system.
Loaning players provides the platform to showcase their skills and ability through regular football, which in turn raises their value on the market. Similarly if a players impresses beyond expectations they may convince Chelsea of their capability to feature in blue in the future, the name Thibaut Courtois springs to mind. A win-win situation provided the quality of scouting Chelsea have at their disposal to find the right players to develop in such a nature.
A perfect example of the loan system in practice is Thorgan Hazard, younger brother of Eden. The Belgian failed to register a single competitive appearance in a Chelsea shirt but enjoyed two successful loan spells at Zulte Waregem, earning a number of individual accolades including Belgian Pro League Player of the Season. Next came a loan move to Mönchengladbach which Hazard made permanent, earning Chelsea €8 million, a significant profit on the €500,000 fee they paid RC Lens in July 2012.
With Chelsea set on this new strategy within the market, partly imposed by the limitations of FFP, perhaps surprisingly fan discontent has emerged with a heavy focus in the media centred on a potential rift between Mourinho and board. Such reports however seemed unfounded. Mourinho would have been made aware of Chelsea’s new plans concerning transfers in negotiations bringing him back to the club and when discussing terms over signing a new contract. Only recently Mourinho defended Roman Abramovich and assured fans of the stability of their relationship in a press conference ahead of the away trip to Manchester City.
“Chelsea supporters worried about the transfer window must be until the moment Mr Abramovich bought the club. Because since Mr Abramovich bought the club, Chelsea supporters cannot speak in a negative way about the transfer market. They have only to speak in a positive way and praise the owner and praise the board because their dedication and all the owner did for the club has been absolutely amazing and has obviously been one fantastic contribution for the club in previous years.”
“And the owner is the owner and, I believe will be the owner for many, many years. And the board has a close relation with owner, and the board just gave me a four-year contract. So we are in great stability and we work fantastically well.”
The recent signing of Baba Rahman from Augsburg for a fee reported to be in excess of £20 million is a welcome addition as Chelsea seek to plan for the future. One predicts that César Azpilicueta will soon move into a more natural right-sided role in defence and Baba will take his place on the left. The fee mentioned highlights the boards’ commitment to spend when a player is adjudged to be required and reinforces a focus on young talent. Fittingly if recent reports are to be believed Chelsea will continue their pursuit of Everton’s John Stones, despite seeing their latest offer of £30 million firmly rejected for the ex-Barnsley man. Stones has been earmarked as a long-term replacement for the soon to be 35 year-old John Terry, who was substituted off at half-time at the Etihad for the first time under José Mourinho.
However in comparison to last summer’s window, Chelsea’s recruitment this time out has been nothing short of underwhelming in terms of the numbers/magnitude of arrivals and the speed in attaining new players. Indeed, the champions look rather short compared to some of their nearest title-rivals at this current point in time. Resultantly, Chelsea’s activity in the market in the next two weeks will be interesting to follow to say the least. The recent 3-0 capitulation away to Manchester City may well be the most powerful cry from fans and manager to force Abramovich’s hand to spend BIG. Yet as the club’s hierarchy will know, the latter stages of the transfer window will see demands from agents and clubs rocket to astronomical proportions.
