Chelsea have used the transfer market very wisely over the course of the last few years. The powers that be at Stamford Bridge recognised the potential in buying up youngsters, loaning them out and then selling on for a profit, and this approach has allowed the Blues to lure in top quality talent such as Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa for big fees while maintaining a low net spend.
Naturally, such a process has drawbacks. Selling on young players before they’ve reached their potential is always prime to make a club look a little silly, and for all the success Chelsea have had there have been a few cases of the ‘one that got away’, which is another reason why the Blues could axe Mourinho.
Romelu Lukaku is looking more and more like the new Didier Drogba as the seasons pass, while Kevin De Bruyne was sold to Manchester City for over £50m after being purchased from west London 18 months earlier for well under half of that figure. Meanwhile some signings – Gael Kakuta springs to mind – have disappeared off the face of the earth.
Although the aforementioned pair make up the high profile examples, the exit of Ryan Bertrand is, perhaps, the most odd of all. Likened to Ashley Cole early on and a part of the 2012 Champions League Final XI, Bertrand slipped away from the Chelsea first-team over the following years, before finding redemption on loan at Southampton. However, even this successful spell with the Saints wasn’t a flashing warning sign for the Premier League champions, who all too willingly shipped their defender off to the South Coast permanently earlier this year.
It could be argued that his future at Stamford Bridge was bleak, but as the months have passed Bertrand has grown into a player that would certainly have a key role in Jose Mourinho’s side in the present day. Now in the England set-up as, arguably, Roy Hodgson’s best option in the role, it’s bizarre to see Chelsea lining up week after week with converted right-back Cesar Azpilicueta in the position, or the worryingly out of his depth Abdul Baba Rahman.
Alas, mistakes are always made, let’s just hope Chelsea don’t repeat this with a player like Ruben Loftus-Cheek…
