Chelsea FC News – September 2021

The English Premier League transfer window has just slammed shut this week and with us on YET ANOTHER International break, I’d say now is as good a time as any to take a look at the ins and outs at Chelsea over the summer. Have Chelsea turned into genuine title contenders again this season? Will their transfers flop? We’ll get into the nitty gritty right here, right now, so if you’re all ready to get going, lets dive into it!

It’s safe to say that, while Chelsea fans absolutely ADORED Frank Lampard as a player, he never quite hit their expectations as a manager. Did he take the job too soon? Possibly. But one thing is for sure, given the players they had and the resources available to them, the one thing they were missing was a world class manager. Not only to get things working right on the pitch, but to lure in those BIG players. When Betonline Sportsbook had Thomas Tuchel as favourite to take over the fans went nuts and you know? He has certainly done both of those things, they have made big moves in the transfer market this season, hoping to build on their Champions League success of the 20/21 season. We’ll start with the big one then shall we?

Romelu Lukaku

Admittedly, this one kinda turned my head a bit. I figured Chelsea would want an attacking player, but I personally thought they were going to go all out for Haaland or M’Bappe. Lukaku is a ready built striker though. The man has pace, he’s built like a brick ****house and boy can he finish. But, I’m never a fan of clubs buying their old players back, especially for insane transfer fees, but we’ll get to the fee in a moment. Lukaku was bought by Chelsea way back in 2011 from RSC Anderlecht for £13.5m, he looked to be the next big thing but he never REALLY hit the ground running, as proven by his 2 loan periods at West Brom and Everton.

Lukaku scored 17 goals in 35 games for West Brom, then he was sold to Everton for £31.8m. He kinda tore the premier league to pieces everywhere but Chelsea. He scored 53 goals in 3 seasons for Everton. Following his stint at Everton he was sold to Manchester Untied for £76m, where again he showed the form people initially thought he was capable of. 16 goals in his first season and 12 in his second in the Premier League. United moved on though within 2 seasons where he was then sold to Inter Milan for £66m. At this point however Lukaku became Super Saiyan. He scored 23 and 24 goals in his 2 seasons in Serie A, with 13 goals in Europe in 16 games. Clearly showing Chelsea that he was ready to be the player they initially thought, but I don’t think anyone would’ve seen this coming…

So £103m later, Lukaku is now a Chelsea player again. Tadaaaa!! I genuinely think he’ll rip the league to pieces this season. *something something Chelsea also signed Saul Niguez on loan* but honestly their outgoings are way more interesting to me.

Outgoings

As somebody who isn’t a Chelsea fan I always used to hate how they never really gave their youth a chance, unless they were unbelievable talents. When Lampard was there and they had a transfer ban, he was forced to use some of that youth, unfortunately 2 of those players were sold this summer. We’ll be getting to that very soon however. First up, Tammy Abraham. Abraham was given his big chance in the 19-20 season, purely because they sold players but were banned from bringing replacements in, he scored 15 in 34 and 3 in Europe, much to his credit. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be for Abraham, as soon as the transfer ban was up they brought in attackers and he was moved back to the bench. This season he made the transfer to Serie A in a £36m move to Roma as their new number 9! He did his part and then made the club good money.

Next up is Kurt Zouma. Zouma was touted to be the next big thing, he was picked up from Saint-Étienne for £13m back in 2014 as a youngster. After many loan deals back and forward to Saint-Étienne, Stoke and Everton, Chelsea finally gave up on him it seems, he made a fair few appearances in his last 2 seasons, but this season he was picked up by West Ham on a permanent basis bringing in a fee of £31.5m which is kinda crazy really. However Zouma is still only 26 years old so there’s hope for him yet!

In total Chelsea spent £110m this summer and recouped £108m, I’d say a net spend of £2m is pretty solid given the changes they’ve made, how would you rate their summer? I personally think they will win the league this season. Only time will really tell right? But one thing is for sure, I’m thinking we’re gonna have the tightest title race for a while this season!