Transfer deadline day wasn’t one to remember for Chelsea fans, and many view the summer’s business as mixed at best. The main focus seemed to be on the players who didn’t join, rather than the ones who actually arrived. Big money moves never materialised, and some of the signings were far from the household names that were rumoured early on.
On top of that, there were some high profile exits, and once again a barrage of loan departures. With the current number of Chelsea’s farmed out reserves hitting 30, we felt you may need reminding of just who left the club this summer. Here we have a run-down of all the summer’s transfer activity, plus reaction to all the completed moves, and those which remained uncompleted.
Transfers in
- Pedro – Barcelona, £21 million
- Asmir Begovic – Stoke, £8 million
- Abdul Baba Rahman – Augsberg, £14 million
- Kenedy – Fluminense, £6 million
- Papy Djilobodji – Nantes, £2.7 million
- Michael Hector – Reading, £4 million
- Total: £55.7 million
Despite signing just one player who is likely to start more matches than not, there’s quite a bit to get through in Chelsea’s incomings this summer. Pedro is the big name, and he looks like a fantastic piece of business. The others, are a mix of squad players, youngsters and complete unknowns. Djilobodji is an odd signing, he was turned down by Sunderland, QPR and Aston Villa before moving to Stamford Bridge. He must have thought the offer was a wind up. Michael Hector seems like an even stranger move, signing the 23-year-old for £4million, before loaning him straight out.
John Stones was the big miss this summer. The club were open about wanting to sign him, but they just could not get Everton to part with the centre-half. They chased him for most of the summer, before turning their attention to Marquinhos of PSG. They had two deadline day bids rejected for him, while they were also rumoured to be after Paul Pogba.
These moves could be setting the table for a massive summer next year, as that’s how modern transfers have moved. Many deals take over a year to complete, very rarely does a big player move in the space of days or weeks. Look at the build up to signing Diego Costa last year, that type of deal takes a while. Maybe it’s better to not waste money this year, to get the likes of Pogba and Stones over the line next summer?
Transfers out
- Thorgan Hazard – Borussia Monchengladbach, £5.8 million
- Gael Kakuta – Sevilla, £2.5 million
- Petr Cech – Arsenal, £10 million
- Josh McEachran – Brentford, £750,000
- Didier Drogba – Montreal Impact, free
- Filipe Luis – Atletico Madrid, £11 million
- Oriol Romeu – Southampton, £5 million
- Total: £35 million
Many of these departures were failed young starlets, who recouped the club back some profit while hopefully moving on to play more games. Those can’t really be argued with. Neither can Drogba’s move; he has given the club everything he could since first signing in 2004, and he deserves one final year playing regularly.
The same could be said for Cech, although it is disappointing to see him in an Arsenal shirt. Every Chelsea fan knew the Czech stopper was too good to sit on the bench, but few are happy seeing him at the Emirates. While it doesn’t seem to have helped Arsenal too much so far, it has fixed a position that’s worried Arsene Wenger for years.
Luis didn’t really do much in his year at Chelsea, but his move to Atletico seems like a waste. Given Branislav Ivanovic’s poor early form, it’s likely the Brazilian would have forced himself into contention. Adbul Baba Rahman could prove to be a great replacement, but it does feel like an unnecessary risk.
Chelsea’s Legion of Loaned Players
- Christian Atsu – Bournemouth
- Lewis Baker – Vitesse
- Mario Pasalic – Monaco
- Andreas Christensen – Borussia Monchengladbach
- Isaiah Brown –Vitesse
- Nathan – Vitesse
- Marco Van Ginkel – Stoke
- Victorien Angban – Sint-Truiden
- Tomas Kalas – Middlesbrough
- Jordan Houghton – Gillingham
- Kenneth Omeruo – Kasimpasa
- Patrick Bamford – Crystal Palace
- Wallace – Capri
- Danilo Pantic – Vitesse
- Ulises Davila – Vitoria
- Dominic Solanke – Vitesse
- Joao Rodriguez – Sint-Truiden
- Todd Kane – NEC Nijmegen
- Mohammed Salah – Roma
- Matej Delac – Sarajevo
- Alex Davey –Peterborough United
- Christian Cuevas – Sint-Truiden
- Nathan Ake – Watford
- Juan Cuadrado – Juventus
- Marko Marin – Trabzonspor
- Cristian Manea – Royal Mouscron Peruwelz
- Jeremie Boga – Stade Rennais
- Lucas Piazon – Reading
- Victor Moses – West Ham
- Islam Feruz – Hibernian
- Michael Hector – Reading
- Nathaniel Chalobah – Napoli
Even the most ardent Chelsea fan would have trouble keeping track of these players and the feeder clubs they join. Keeping 30 players on your books at other clubs might not be breaking any rules, but it does feel wrong. Does this really benefit any of the players? Will they actually ever get to play for Chelsea? And will this put off the next generation of wonder-kids from coming to the Bridge?
Of this huge number of players we’ve seen go, a few names stand out in particular. You have to wonder if Jose Mourinho would have let Andreas Christensen or Nathan Ake leave if he knew he wouldn’t get Stones. It’s hard to see Djilobodji as that much better than either of those two youngsters. Their progress this season will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.
The same can be said for a few others, including Nathaniel Chalobah. The youngster had a poor spell at Burnley last season, but now he faces a massive step up, as he moves to Napoli and Serie A. Given that they are looking to make the Champions League, this could be the making of the midfielder.
Mario Pasalic is another one to watch out for, after he moved to Monaco. The highly rated Croatian should get some chances there, and hopefully he can return ready for the first team. Izzy Brown is one of the many Blues at Vitesse this season, but keep tabs on his displays this year. He’s a highly rated striker, and you’d hope he will be able to prove himself in Holland.