Simon Phillips discusses how Chelsea’s new approach could bear fruit for the club.
There have been various reports across the media this week, suggesting that the potential new Chelsea manager will have to be prepared to work with a lower transfer budget, as owner Roman Abramovich faces a bill of nearly £2 billion pounds for a stadium rebuild.
However, this is funded, whether it’s through reported investors or loans, this will without a doubt will affect the sort of money that Chelsea will be investing in new players over the foreseeable future.
Antonio Conte is widely expected to leave the club in the summer, after growing frustrated with the very fact of the board not allowing him his first-choice transfer targets. He has clashed with them on numerous occasions for various reasons, and it appears the relationship is too damaged to repair.
Taking the above into account, it now looks as if the board will be changing their strategy, and this may start with the type of manager they bring in. Before now they have opted for ‘CV managers’, as they are so appropriately described. Managers who have a history of winning trophies and leagues and someone who will have an immediate impact on the club’s trophy cabinet.
It now seems that for the first time, Roman is exploring the option of bringing in an ‘upcoming or unproven’ coach who will be expected to promote young players to fill squad spaces, rather than spending big money on resources.
Leonardo Jardim of Monaco and Maurizio Sarri of Napoli are two examples of managers who could fit the bill. Two coaches who have got the best out of what they have at their disposal, and especially in Jardim’s case, developed some top young players who have gone on to bigger things. He is also a young manager who will come with a fresh approach and would be relatively cheap to sign for Chelsea.
If this happens, I don’t feel that it will be the worst thing right now. I believe it will be a positive move. Here is why…
Chelsea have continued this cycle of bringing in new managers every couple of years, they win a major trophy, then move on. Various issues occur such as the manager falling out with staff members and players, or the board losing trust in their head coach. This creates toxicity in the club on a regular basis and does not provide us with the stability that is needed to be continually successful.
The board demand instant success, this creates a high pressure at the club. If the board take a small step back and use a bit of reality, the pressure will drop slightly. This will give us a chance to finally promote some players from one of the world’s best youth academies, freeing up some money from the smaller transfer budget that we have, to add the top-class talent in the areas needed.
I don’t agree with this false agenda that you either have a CV manager and have instant success or use a manager who is prepared to integrate younger players but have to wait for success. The two are NOT mutually exclusive.
I fully believe that if we got a ‘Jardim type’ manager, and integrated talents such as Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dujon Sterling, Reece James, Mason Mount, Trevor Chalobah, Marco van Ginkel, Jay Da Silva and Tammy Abraham, just to name a few examples. Then add to that a few top-class signings, we would still challenge for the league title next year and have a great chance of more silverware. Coaching is as much about motivating and tactics as it is having top class players at your disposal.
With a handful of the players mentioned above coming in, we could have saved a chunk of our transfer budget in the summer, when we signed squad fillers such as Danny Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta. Drinkwater has hardly featured this season, and we are set to lose a few million on him this summer when he requests to leave. More wasted money and senseless deals.
Of course, as football fans, we all love the excitement and adrenaline of big name players arriving at our club. But the reality is that may not be the case for a little while, well at least regarding competing with the big hitters like the two Manchester clubs for example. So, we might have to do the next best thing and get excited about finally integrating ‘some’ of the younger players.
Let’s get excited about finding the next John Terry or Andreas Christensen for example. These kids in the academy live and breathe Chelsea football club, a lot of them have been there since they started walking, they will bleed blue for the cause. We all talk about lack of leaders and where to find these ‘club men’. They’re already here; they are currently breaking world records with the youth teams!
Personally, it excites me that we could finally get some stability at the club and fizzle out the drama.
Written by Simon Phillips – @SiPhillipsSport
