It has been reported that Chelsea will have a mammoth £241m in what has been dubbed ‘Financial Fair Play wiggle room’ to spend, without the need for sales.
With the Blues sitting in relative comfort at the top of the Premier League table with 26 points, winning eight from 11 games played. Although the board had a busy time during the summer transfer window, they’ll now be setting their eyes on January.
In the summer, Chelsea brought in Romelu Lukaku for over £100m and Saul Niguez on loan from Atletico Madrid for £4m. They’re the two new incomings for this season, the rest were a hoard of returning players who went out on loan.
Keiran Maguire, a lecturer in football finance at the University of Liverpool drew up the data that showed the findings and three suggestions for Chelsea to invest that money in.
Chelsea have a strong squad but are not without their problems at times and could strengthen their midfield and defence. The club have a list of players whose contracts are either under negotiations or ending soon. In defensive duties, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger’s contract situations are still unknown and came to a stall at one point or another due to wage and agent demands.
Jorginho and N’Golo Kante have both been the stronghold of our midfield for a long time. But, their contracts end in less than 18 months too and so Chelsea will be looking at either short-term extensions or even bringing in long-term replacements.
The club have been wise to revise their spending strategy and have made a huge income in sold players, a lot of who were developed through the academy system. Take Tammy Abraham’s £34m move to Roma as an example.
They had to be wise, especially after the club were hit with a two-window ban in 2019, which ended in February 2020. 150 rules were breached, ironically involving some regarding 69 academy players.
They’ve finally found stability under Thomas Tuchel, who has built a strong Chelsea squad, utilising a mixture of experienced, international players and young, fresh blood that have come up through the academy system.
In fact, the ban would have allowed the club to reflect on how they use academy players and rethink their academy graduate adjustment into the first-team strategy.
Mason Mount, Reece James, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Trevoh Chalobah - just a selection of academy graduate names that in recent years have been successfully weaned into the starting-eleven.
Building a team from academy prospects was very much a Frank Lampard project, with credit to him. But, Tuchel has managed to keep that ethos intact whilst mixing in more robust, experienced players who will win the side titles.
With a busy winter period impending, Chelsea’s surplus cash on hand will be important and a boost in their bid to push for their first title win since 2017. Here are some of the players where Chelsea find that cash comes in very handy…
The wonderkid - Aurelian Tchouameni
Aurelian Tchouameni has lit up the stage for club and county and at the age of 21, he will be securing the future of Chelsea’s midfield.
But, with other Premier League clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United waiting on the sidelined ready to snap up the youngster, there’s only one language that prospers in football it seems - money.
It looks like the highest bidder on this one - question will be, is Tchouamni worth the expenditure?
Sensible choice - Jules Kounde
The fee haggling meant that Sevilla and Chelsea couldn’t come to an agreement in the summer transfer window just gone for Jules Kounde. Maybe Chelsea should cave and pay up the cash that they will need for a top defender.
The French international will be needed, especially if the current contract debacles don’t resolve themselves. Outgoings will leave the backline weak and in need of urgent reinforcements.
You could argue this is the sensible transfer choice that Chelsea need to make.
Wildcard transfer - Erling Haaland
Why not? Tuchel has previously said that the name popped up in the last summer transfer window. But, he’s also reportedly told the Chelsea board that they should be looking for a striker.
So… *side eye*, depending on how our strikers do this season it may well be a possibility that we bring in another strike to revamp our attacking power. But, he’s going to demand big bucks, most likely in the fee by Borussia Dortmund, as well as his wages.
But, just imagine the terminator as he is dubbed lighting up Stamford Bridge...
If you could splash the cash on one player in January, who would you buy? Follow our CareFree Chelsea trends writer Renuka Odedra on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
