Chelsea have a notorious history of moving players in and out of the club at the wrong time, but now, they must make the right decisions, for the sake of their long-term future.
The current Blues squad are at a sticking point in their careers, the group that were so rampant in the Premier League during Jose Mourinho’s second season at the club, where they eased to the title, in what looked like at the time, the start of a very special and successful period for the club, have now stagnated and are holding the team back.
The squad is dejected and tired, in desperate need of revamping and if reports are to be believed, Antonio Conte has informed Roman Abramovich about the need for a squad overhaul, something that has been coming. Chelsea have struggled with timings in the past but they must get this right if they want to continue fighting at the very top in the Premier League in the immediate future.
You only have to look back into the not-to-distant past to see high-profile examples of players who left Stamford Bridge too quickly. Petr Cech is now enjoying first-team football at Arsenal whilst we struggle to identify whether or not our Belgian prodigy is either keen to stay or looking to edge a move back to La Liga, where he developed so greatly.
Cech, like many of the players that will be listed, had to leave the club at one point and it was a case of stick or twist with Thibaut Courtois. On one hand, you have a club legend, a world class goalkeeper who doesn’t deserve to be a number two, on the other, a young Belgian with the potential to go on and be one of the world’s best.
Didier Drogba left the club after scoring in the Champions League final, arguably the greatest night in the history of Chelsea Football Club, and no adequate replacement was identified.
Abramovich may have been hoping and relying on the £50million signing, Fernando Torres coming good and making his investment worthwhile, but it was clear at the time that was never going to happen.
Frank Lampard, another example of the core of players that have served Chelsea so well over the last decade. He, like Cech, had to leave the club at some stage in his career, whether that be by retiring or moving to the States, as he did, eventually.
It may have been out of the club’s hands by that point, but to then see him line-up for your main title rivals shows that something wasn’t quite right. It’s like Sheikh Mansour and then-Manchester City boss, Manuel Pellegrini stuck two fingers up to Chelsea and said ‘If you can’t see he’s still good enough, we’ll show you’.
Another recent example of misjudgement happened with Kevin De Bruyne, who is now considered as one of the best players currently in the Premier League. There is a common misconception that De Bruyne didn’t have the quality he does now when he was at Chelsea, he did. You only have to look at the goal he scored in pre-season against the Malaysian XI (I know, before you say it), the technique was all there, however, there were questions over both his attitude and that paired with Mourinho’s inability to change to a system that benefited De Bruyne, he was out of the club before fans had learnt how to pronounce his name properly.
YouTube: Malaysian XI vs Chelsea 0 – 2 Kevin de Bruyne Goal 21 7 2013
At the time, the £18million that the club got for De Bruyne could’ve been seen as good business, it helped fund the moves that would see the club go on to lift both the Premier League and the League Cup the following season.
Despite all that, the Belgian could’ve reached the levels he is now, whilst playing for Chelsea. Chelsea fans could’ve been reaping the rewards that the Manchester City fans are having now with the 25-year-old.
All of the examples above are just some of the reasons why Chelsea’s planning must be right. Moving on senior figures such as Branislav Ivanovic, Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and even Gary Cahill, who are a number of players being linked with exits, takes serious consideration and to be done in the right time.
If, and that’s a big if, some of these players or all of them do leave the club over the next six to 12 months, it’s at that point we’ll see the best out of the change in system that Conte is implementing at Stamford Bridge, as he’ll hopefully, replace the departing stars with players specialised for the position that he needs.
Something that has held the club back over the last decade was the inability to replace the core from the squad that Jose Mourinho built during their respective managerial appointments. Being able to identify suitable replacements for the players will be crucial, ensuring a smooth transition as the club prepares to enter a new era.
