Transfer window verdict: GOAL grades Europe’s 10 richest clubs on their summer business
Chelsea attempted a structural summer rebuild tailored explicitly to the philosophy of their new head coach, Xabi Alonso, outspending their Premier League rivals with an outlay of £349m ($471m) on new talent, balanced by a £382m ($516m) recovery in player sales.
The headline deal was the club-record £117m ($158m) purchase of Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa, and the England international has hit the ground running with two goal involvements in his first two Premier League outings for the Blues.
The early signs suggest Rogers will live up to his mega price tag, having made an instant connection with Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer in the final third. Alonso also signed veteran duo Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, who bring much-needed experience and leadership to a squad that sorely lacked the latter last season.
In defence, Chelsea invested a combined £111m ($150m) in Maxence Lacroix, Marco Palestra, and Pep Chavarria, and Emi Martinez followed Rogers from Villa in a cut-price £7.5m deal. The Argentina goalkeeper is a major upgrade on their calamitous previous No.1 Robert Sanchez.
Elsewhere, promising forward Emmanuel Emegha and Argentine midfielder Valentin Barco joined the Blues from their sister club Strasbourg, enhancing the squad depth even further. Chelsea covered nearly every base for incomings, and managed to shed the deadwood in equally efficient fashion.
Losing Marc Cucurella to Real Madrid was a blow, but they did brilliantly to get big fees for the likes of Andrey Santos, Nicolas Jackson and Liam Delap. Academy graduates Trevoh Chalobah and Tyrique George were also sold, to Como and Everton, respectively, for combined pure profit of £50m ($68m).
There was drama on deadline day, too as Chelsea cashed in on Enzo Fernandez in their most expensive sale ever, squeezing a Premier League record-equalling fee of £125m out of Man City. Recouping their entire initial investment in the Argentine, and a little bit extra was a great piece of business, but Chelsea did not get a deal over the line for his replacement, Monaco’s Lamine Camara.
That will definitely bring down the optimistic mood at Stamford Bridge, because Alonso is now too short in midfield to deliver the league title. Even a disgruntled Fernandez could have brought a lot to the Blues’ new project, and losing him could undermine it entirely.
