Summer has now reached the point where Chelsea have put incoming transfers on hold. The Blues broke their previous record transfer fee earlier this month when they brought back Romelu Lukaku for his much-anticipated return to SW6. He and Marcus Bettinelli are the only two new signings Marina Granovskaia and Co. have made so far this summer. Your focus is now on the thinning of the unnaturally large squad under the direction of Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel was quoted as saying he was enjoying managing a big squad when he took over last season, but his patience was put to the test when Chelsea pushed squad limits to a whole new limit in recent weeks. The Blues had trained 42 players in Cobham at one time, which is almost unimaginable for the first team of a professional football club at any time of the year. Granovskaia and the back room staff have been working hard for the past few days. Wednesday’s three loans resulted in one of the most productive times this summer.
More of Chelsea FC loaner watch
Chelsea are preparing for the upcoming transfer deadline by loaning a host of players, including a talented trio on Wednesday
Wednesday started with a legendary (for one reason or another) Transfer announcement from Turkish master Besiktas while channeling his inner DC Comics. Besiktas put Michy Batshuayi on loan for the entire season when he walked into Vodafone Park wearing a makeshift Batman suit. Batshuayi’s announcement was officially followed by Kenedy’s loan to Flamengo, confirming reports that Emerson is on his way to Lyon for the coming season. All three also receive a one-year contract extension.
It uses a keyword that is understandably scary to Chelsea fans: loan. Perhaps even more worrying for the fans is the fact that all three have been awarded renewed contracts despite having been fringe players at best for the past three seasons. However, you are entitled. Granovskaia built a Champions League winning team and ran one of the best run football clubs in the world for quite a while. While expanding deadweight players isn’t the most popular choice, it ends up being the right one.
Olivier Giroud’s one-year extension at the beginning of summer is the perfect example of how short-term deals benefit club sales. Batshuayi, Emerson and Kenedy will all be leaving Chelsea next season, but the difference will be a few million pounds as opposed to a free transfer. Those millions add up pretty quickly, especially when you look at the credit army as a whole. Many clubs around the world have suffered great financial damage due to the effects of COVID-19. Hopefully everything will normalize again in a year and the income will flow back into the football world. Only then will the Blues approach their price for these outbound transfers.
While Chelsea has been incredibly busy all week on the aforementioned loans and Tammy Abraham sales, Chelsea is far from finished. Matt Miazga is expected to join Alaves on loan for the upcoming season in the near future. Ike Ugbo will be leaving the club for good in the coming days despite Genk and Marseille battling for the young striker’s service. AC Milan are in talks to bring Tiemoue Bakayoko back and Davide Zappacosta has a number of applicants in Italy too. This is only the tip of the iceberg, with players like Ross Barkley, Danny Drinkwater, Baba Rahman and Malang Sarr to come.
What was the most surprising move you’ve made to Chelsea in this window so far? Let us know in the comments or on twitter!
