One complaint that many Chelsea fans have had in recent years is the club’s unwillingness to go out and sign proven quality. Instead, the club have completely focused on bringing the best youngsters from around the world to Stamford Bridge. Unfortunately, that strategy has failed badly.
It is one thing to have potential and another to make use of it on the pitch at the senior level. Some are never able to make that jump. Others do and look quality early on, only to fade away quickly. Just think how many youngsters were tipped to be world-class but never even came close to meeting those expectations.
That is why it is always much less of a risk to sign proven players. And the hope is that BlueCo will be doing that moving forward in order to bring Chelsea back on track.
Interestingly, it looks like they have done so in the past. Both Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have been of interest to Chelsea and the club have looked into signing them, according to comments made by Kaveh Solhekol as relayed by PYS.
Chelsea looked into signing Van Dijk and Salah from Liverpool
Van Dijk and Salah are absolute Liverpool legends. But those moves did not work out. Of course, the exact timing of Chelsea’s interest is not known, or how serious they were about signing either or both of them.
Even right now, Van Dijk would raise the bar for Chelsea defensively. He remains one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
Salah’s performance levels have dropped this season and he has often found himself on the bench. But one cannot deny what he achieved at Liverpool over the past decade or so. Not making the most of him has to go down as one of Chelsea’s biggest regrets ever.
What are Chelsea’s transfer plans this summer?
That is a very interesting update, to be honest. It changes the perception of the type of players that Chelsea could be looking to sign this summer.
If the club were willing to consider the idea of Van Dijk and Salah, it is very possible that they will have their eyes on other veterans as well. How about a return for someone like Antonio Rudiger, whose time at Real Madrid is coming to an end? Or a Bernardo Silva, who is leaving Manchester City but remains a quality talent?
It does expand the pool of talent that BlueCo might have their eyes on. Now, it remains to be seen what kind of moves they will make when the summer transfer window opens.
