by The biggest hint that Chelsea were set for a quiet transfer deadline day was the conspicuous absence of joint-control owner Behdad Egbhbali at the club’s Cobham training ground on Thursday.
Eghbali spent the final week of the summer window in camp at Cobham as Chelsea close in on a late deal for Cole Palmer, having established himself on the training ground on deadline day last January as the Blues set the transfer record new British by signing Enzo Fernandez.
But Chelsea already decided they were not about to set a new transfer record for a third window in a row this year and Eghbali decided he was not needed to oversee Armando Broja’s loan move to Fulham which could cost up to £4 million to earn for the Stamford Bridge club.
Broja is valued at £50million at Chelsea, which no club was willing to pay in January, and yet Fulham will only have to pay the striker’s wages if he starts 60 per cent of their remaining games. A good second half of the season at Craven Cottage will give the Blues a better chance of attracting bids close to their asking price.
Chelsea spent £105 million on Fernandez 12 months ago and £115 million on Moises Caicedo in the summer, but decided before the January window opened that they were not going to activate Victor Osimhen’s release clause, thought to be worth over £110 million it. , last month.
Like most clubs in the Premier League, Chelsea have had to pay careful attention to the rules around profit and sustainability but also seem to recognize that mistakes were made last year, which the club cannot afford to continue repeating.
Chelsea paid a premium to land Fernandez and Mykhaylo Mudryk, who joined in a deal worth up to £88.5 million, and while it is always believed that both players will fulfill their potential, it is not justified either still with their fee.
There were players that Chelsea could have made a similar gamble this year, such as Viktor Gyokeres, who has been prolific this season in Portugal but has scored regularly in the Championship in England, but he has been overlooked ever.
Interest in young Aston Villa striker Jhon Duran has been curbed by injury and Chelsea can now reassess their targets closer to the summer, when they believe fees and wage demands will be more reasonable.
Osimhen is likely to be among Chelsea’s top targets in the summer, when his release clause may be more palatable to the club if they can cash in on sales, with more strategic moves already being planned to improve staff productivity.
Less than 24 hours after the January transfer window closed, head coach Mauricio Pochettino offered a glimpse into how the club is preparing for the summer market by looking at potential set piece experts.
Chelsea have scored just five times in set pieces in the Premier League this season, four times less than Sunday’s opponents Wolverhampton Wanderers and nine less than Arsenal, who have scored the most goals from corners and free-kicks.
Arsenal have recruited a set-piece specialist from Manchester City to bolster their numbers, but Pochettino insisted Chelsea’s mediocre output from tackles and free corners was a reflection of the club’s squad rather than a coaching issue.
“We work a lot on set pieces,” Pochettino said. “After that, it’s about the quality of the player. It’s all about the receivers. We do not have a specialist. Maybe Chilly [Ben Chilwell] good in delivery, but, after that, we don’t have a specialist. If you want to be good at set pieces, we work a lot, then you need good receivers. Wolves have good receivers, like Manchester City or other clubs. It’s not about work. We work the same, but the problem is having good receivers.
“We are a coaching staff that is in charge of everything. You can have a specialist and you can promote the specialist. Or you can have the specialist and not promote the specialist. It depends on how you want to sell the idea of working on set pieces. We have a specialist, we have a group of analysts for set pieces, we have the training team and we work a lot. And then it’s about the quality. At the moment, we were talking about trying to find a good specialist for next season.”
At Southampton, Pochettino managed James Ward-Prowse, who has already made an impact at West Ham United by assisting five times from corners and free kicks, who is the most individual player in the League.
“Look at West Ham before and after,” said Pochettino. “What has changed? After and before? It is not the same. Ward-Prowse is the receiver. Or it’s Pochettino, isn’t it? Prowsey is a much better receiver than I am. Sure, you can work, as West Ham worked. But now, you add a player like him, you increase the percentage. That is football. Football is about the players. Not for the specialists.”
