The transfer window slammed shut on Monday evening with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho taking up nothing more than a spectator’s role after his side finalised their summer dealings with plenty of time to spare. The big signings were tied up early, with the only business at the end of August being shipping unwanted players out, and finding a replacement for Fernando Torres.
If you’re struggling to remember all of the Blues’ business in the last few months, this is your guide to Chelsea’s ins, outs and loans over the summer. Here you’ll find all the moves, and a look at just how well this window went for Mourinho and Chelsea.
Players Coming Into Chelsea in the Summer of 2014
- Cesc Fabregas – Barcelona, £27 million
- Diego Costa – Atletico Madrid, £32 million
- Filipe Luis – Atletico Madrid, £15.8 million
- Didier Drogba – Galatasaray, free
- Loic Remy – QPR, £10.5 million
Total: £85.3 million
While Chelsea had a considerable outlay of over £85 million, they did manage to strengthen in key areas. Three new forwards were brought in, a completely new forward line, to address the goalscoring problems of last season. Diego Costa, Didier Drogba and Loic Remy are far better options than the blunt strikers from last season, Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o, all of whom have been moved on.
Cesc Fabregas has also added another dimension to Chelsea’s attack, and his vision and range of passing has been one of the main factors in Costa’s great start. Fabregas has been fantastic since signing, and he looks a real bargain at £27 million. Even better, he recently claimed to have just returned to full fitness, so we should expect even more from him in the future.
- For a more detailed look at the various signing who have joined Chelsea this summer, check out our player transfer profiles article.
Players Leaving Chelsea in the Summer of 2014
- David Luiz, PSG – £50 million
- Samuel Eto’o – Everton, free
- Henrique Hilario – retired
- Sam Hutchinson – Sheffield Wednesday, free
- Ashley Cole – Roma, free
- Frank Lampard – New York City, Free
- Demba Ba – Besiktas, £4.7 million
- Patrick Van Aanholt – Sunderland, £1.5 million
- Romelu Lukaku – Everton, £28 million
- Isak Sswewankambo – NAC Breda, free
- Daniel Pappoe – Brighton, free
- George Cole – Brighton, free
- Bill Clifford – Walsall, free
- George Saville – Wolves, £1 million
Total: £85.2million
What has made Chelsea’s transfer business even better, is the fact that they’ve almost broken even. With a net spend of just £100,000 the Blues have managed to improve their squad, and that’s happened by selling on players at inflated prices. David Luiz is the obvious example. While the defender had a great rapport with the fans, he also had too many mistakes in his game. Getting £50 million for your third choice centre half is great business, especially when you can replace him in-house.
Romelu Lukaku went for £28 million, another good fee considering he didn’t seem to be part of the manager’s plans. With the strikeforce that Chelsea have now assembled, it is unlikely Lukaku will be missed too much.
The main departures of the summer, however, were club legends Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole. They both left after their contracts expired, as Chelsea begin to build a new team in a different style. Their exit will likely have lifted a load off the wage bill as Chelsea look to cut costs for the Financial Fair Play rules.
Players Chelsea Have Loaned Out in the Summer of 2014
- Tomas Kalas, FC Koln
- Wallace, Vitesse
- Thorgan Hazard, Borussia Monchengladbach
- Bertrand Traore, Vitesse
- Mario Pasalic, Elche
- Lucas Piazon, Eintracht Frankfurt
- Ryan Bertrand, Southampton
- Gael Kakuta, Rayo Vallecano
- John Swift, Rotherham
- Oriol Romeu, Stuttgart
- Joao Rodriquez, Bastia
- Kenneth Omeruo, Middlesbrough
- Christian Atsu, Everton
- Stipe Perica, NAC Breda
- Victor Moses, Stoke City
- Josh McEachran, Vitesse
- Marko Marin, Fiorentina
- Patrick Bamford, Middlesbrough
- Fernando Torres, AC Milan
- Marco Van Ginkel, AC Milan
- Islam Feruz, OFI Crete
- Nathaniel Chalobah, Burnley
- Matej Delac, Arles-Avignon
- Ulises Davila, Tenerife
- Jamal Blackman, Middlesbrough
One again, Chelsea have a basically a whole squad of players out on loan. A total of 26 have made temporary moves away from the club, and it remains to be seen just how many actually have a future at Stamford Bridge. Macro Van Ginkel should come back from his spell at AC Milan ready for the first team, but one who has no future is Fernando Torres. While he’s only on loan, his contract expires in 2016, so it is doubtful that he’ll ever come back to Chelsea.
Middlesbrough have picked up a few young talents of Chelsea, due to their manager having connections with Mourinho from their time at Real Madrid. Patrick Bamford and Kenneth Omero seem to be rated by Mourinho, so it will be interesting to see how they do in the Championship.
Given all of the summer business so far, it is hard to see Chelsea doing much in the winter transfer window. It may be a similar situation to last season, that they’ll only move if they get a great offer for a player who asks to leave. Even still, they should be more then equipped for the next few months after an excellent, and prudent, summer window.