Chelsea FC: PSG Knocking At The Wrong Door

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As was to be expected, the supposedly stringent penalties incurred by failing to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules have done little to deter the Parisian champions from approaching this summer’s transfer period with a gung ho attitude akin to a clichéd child in a candy shop. Statements such as “The players that I want, I will have.” and “nothing and no one will stop us” from club president Nasser al-Khelaifi illustrate the apparent lack of severity in UEFA’s ruling. The consequent issue is that al-Khelaifi’s preferred candy shop seems to be located in West London. 

“I am staying at Chelsea, 100 per cent sure.”                               – Eden Hazard, June 2014

The relevant foray of offers and rumours originated with the French club expressing their desire to add Eden Hazard to their undeniably impressive midfield. PSG were in the running to sign Hazard as far back as 2011, when the latter was almost single-handedly winning a surprise domestic double with Lille OSC. Hazard’s switch from ‘Lillois’ red to Chelsea’s royal blue did little to dishearten the Parisians. Reading French articles and forums, when Hazard shook Laurent Blanc’s hand after being taken off injured during the Champions League quarter-final one would have thought a deal had already been agreed. It took Hazard explicitly guaranteeing him staying “one hundred percent” to reassure Chelsea fans.

The most recent rumours have linked PSG to Oscar, who has confirmed contact made by the Parisians. While the idea of an in-form Oscar feeding balls through to Ibrahimovic is admittedly mouth-watering, Chelsea have once again made it clear that the 22-year-old playmaker is unlikely to move. 

“Thiago Silva is a great friend and a great player. The chance to play alongside him at Paris is brilliant.”                   – David Luiz

The main problem with these interests is that they involve prising away the most promising youngsters from what simply isn’t a selling club. Even the biggest out-going transfers in the Abramovich era can be justified as selling players surplus to requirements. As skilful and promising as Arjen Robben was, he was worryingly injury prone. More recently, Juan Mata unfortunately failed to impress in Mourinho’s system.

As passionate and dedicated as David Luiz proved himself to be, his appearances were few and far between compared to previous seasons, due mostly to Cahill’s exponential improvement. Add to this the fact that PSG play in a league which fails to meet the high standards of competitiveness, viewership and overall quality of the Premier League and one starts to understand why most of the rumours won’t materialise. PSG’s financial situation suggests a domestic dominance superior even to that of Lyon in the early 2000s. In truth, David Luiz was probably swayed more by the prospect of strengthening his defensive partnership with country skipper Tiago Silva than playing in Guingamp or Caen. 

Mourinho has expressed his wish to create a new Chelsea core to guarantee a new decade of success in the image of the Cech, Terry, Lampard, Drogba ‘spine’. PSG’s attempts at seizing Hazard and Oscar, for whom Mata had to make way in the starting XI, for anything less than the symbolic figure of “300 million” will be likely to remain sports tabloid filler material over the summer.