A Sleeping Giant: Are Chelsea Taking a Snooze, or Are They Headed For a Decade-long Slumber?
Chelsea’s spending over the past January window has been out of this world, even by Chelsea’s standards, and pretty scary to the general football observer. It’s been almost just over half a billion dollars in two windows, with a large slice of well-known wonderkids being prised away from their current clubs and clothed in the blue so reminiscent of Lampard and Co. But while they may be subjected to banter, ridicule or some FFP investigations in the near future, should the footballing world be afraid of them in time to come, given where they are now?
Chelsea’s Current Snooze
Sleeping Giants. Whenever this phrase comes up in football discussions, the consensus is generally the same. A club once successful, now quietly middling through mediocrity, burdened down by irresponsible footballing decisions, inadequate management or just plain naivety.
Over the years, some sleeping giants have stirred, reaching a high that was once commonplace for them. AC Milan for one, finally sat up, winning the Serie A title in the 2021/2022 season. Liverpool are another club that over recent years, have definitely shown that the liverbird has been reborn, winning one Champions League and a Premier League title in the past 7 years since Klopp took over.
Yet sometimes, when expectations are sky high, a minute away can seem an eternity.
In 2004, Roman Abramovich took over the humble Chelsea FC, bestowing upon them the power of the blank checkbook and only one objective: To win.
In the near 20 years that have followed, there has never been a club so obsessed over the idea of winning. While some clubs pride themselves on a style of play (Arsenal, Barcelona) or a deep and rich history filled with characters and legends (Manchester United, Leeds, Newcastle), Chelsea was only bothered with winning, and were known for… winning.
In the past 19 years, they have amassed 21 trophies; 5 Premier Leagues (3! 3! Comes to mind), 5 FA Cups, 3 EFL Cups, 2 Community Shields, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 Europa Leagues, 1 UEFA SuperCup (Falcao took the other!) and 1 FIFA Club World cup.
Given that they had a net spend of almost £1 billion in that time, you could say that Chelsea literally built a dynasty and got their money’s worth.
But is that dynasty still intact?
At the time of writing, Chelsea is undergoing what we would call a transitional season. Having sacked UCL winning coach Thomas Tuchel 7 games into the 22/23 season, Chelsea’s new owners decided that they had enough of proven cup-winning CVs and went with Graham Potter, a man best known for making his teams punch up in terms of playstyle, fluidity and results.
However, Potter is learning that punching down is not as simple as it may seem.
Currently Chelsea are 10th, their lowest standing in almost 10 years. UCL aside, Chelsea have not displayed a ruthlessness seen by both City and Liverpool in the league in the last 5 years, consistently finishing behind them as “best of the rest”.
Other symptoms that could identify them as sleeping giants are slowly becoming more apparent.
Franchise Players
Ever since the departure of Eden Hazard in 2018, Chelsea have seemingly lost a franchise player; an attacker that seemed to have a sense of inevitability when it came to titanic clashes and moments. Once Hazard picked up the ball in that familiar left-wing space, everyone in the stadium would wait with bated breath, knowing that something was about to happen. In the Europa final of Azerbaijan, his last act of goodwill was to grab the final and bend it singlehandedly to his will, scoring and then subsequently assisting Giroud. Currently, Chelsea’s biggest “franchise player” with a longstanding impact and reputation in the league is the injury-prone, yet still effective-in-the-right-system, N’golo Kante.
The UCL under Tuchel in 2020 was won on a foundation of what might have been Kante’s last great season, and the tactical nous of one of the best coaches in the world. Oh, and a cheeky Ramos impersonation by Rudiger.
Contradictory Board Decisions
Behind every sleeping giant is a convoluted board. A lack of clear direction or a unified approach which would often lead to baffling and incoherent transfer strategies. For example, the last decade of Manchester United saw them splurge time and again on the season’s hottest properties, yet without the foresight of whether the squad required such profiles, or if doing so would hinder the current team’s identity
Case in point: In the summer of 2021, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was heading towards some form of progress previously unseen by those after Sir Alex; he finished second in the league, had Bruno fernandes firing on all fronts and appeared to have solved the expensive conundrum of figuring out the best way to use the talents of Paul Pogba.
What Ole really needed was a central midfielder; a one-of-a kind profile that would dominate and allow the midfield magic of Pogba and Fernandes to bedazzle.
However, the board decided instead to spend that budget on the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, in a bid to salvage their reputation amongst the fanbase, by preventing him from moving to Manchester City.
Yet, while Manchester City required that cutting edge that Ronaldo would bring, it was not what United needed. So predictably, results begun to fail, Ole was dismissed and Manchester fell into purgatory again (until Ten Hag, of course)
In the same vein, along with the much publicised departures of KDB and Salah, currently franchise players at the top 2 clubs in the past 5 years, there appears to be a lack of coherent strategy at Chelsea when it comes to identifying, acquiring and, retaining talent.
Lukaku is a great example. Hailed as Drogba’s successor, he was sold to Everton, who sold him to a rival club. He then won the Serie A, and Chelsea bought him back 3 years later for almost double the money, only to not build around him and loan him back to Inter. For a club to stay a giant, such gargantuan blunders have to be ironed out.
Despite all this however, there is reason to hope, and to grow wary of Chelsea.
Recruitment Beyond The Squad
A key part of recruiting Graham Potter also involved acquiring the backroom staff that helped make his Brighton team so successful, which involved embracing a data-led approach when it came to analysis, and identifying the right “pieces” when needed for the squad to become successful.
Amongst these new arrivals are, Kyle Macaulay in a recruitment role, and Paul Winstanley as director of global talent and transfers. As part of the scouting revamp, in addition to traditional scouting, each scout is rumoured to be tasked with looking at a specific piece of the pitch instead, and focus on finding profiles that could help solve problems that the manager might have with regards to that.
Such an approach is almost guaranteed to yield results in the long run, given the iron clad approach of marrying both the traditional, and embracing the future.
Potter and His Wonderkids
Let’s come back to the present. While yes, Chelsea are currently stuck in a mid-table rut, there have been encouraging signs in recent performances, and indications that The Blues’ attack in particular is beginning to click and operate on the same wavelength, with wonderkids Havertz, Felix and Enzo growing more familiar with one another.
If anything, there’s always room to grow. Chelsea’s recent purchases such as Badiashile, Mudryk, and Nkunku all have various long term contracts. This is a good thing because there is a very high possibility of these players being allowed to grow and develop cohesively under Potter through their formative years. If there’s anything beyond tactical ingenuity, it’s the on-field relationships that are built through familiarity and that almost telepathic sensing of movement. Lastly, allowing this group to grow together will also help the dressing room; longer term friendships and a sense of “we’re in this together to turn the club around” will surely benefit young players.
Snooze or Slumber?
Looking at Chelsea now, one can be optimistic. With the arrival of solid additions to the backroom staff, an adoption of new processes, a generation of incredibly talented footballers, and a coach known for his tactical mind, there is every reason to fear Chelsea in the coming years, as a napping giant will awaken.
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