Chelsea FC’s 2014/2015 Season In Perspective: The Negatives

By @cfcunofficial (Chelsea Debs) (Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 2) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsPoor January Transfer Window

Mourinho’s decision to sell Andre Schurrle and loan off Mohamed Salah to fund the transfer of Juan Cuadrado was ill-advised in my opinion, as I had indicated in an earlier article I wrote and I was eventually vindicated as Cuadrado has so far failed to make any major impression in the few appearances he has managed so far. His much publicised dribbling ability has failed to materialize in the games he has played as he has been clumsy on the ball, failing to beat opposing players and getting easily shrugged off the ball.

But Mourinho’s worst decision was sanctioning the sale of Ryan Bertrand to Southampton for 10 million pounds. When you consider the fact that Manchester United signed Luke Shaw for 30 million pounds, it makes the transfer even more inappropriate. To make matters worse, the 25-year old England international was named in the PFA team of the season as left-back, an accolade he fully deserves as he has been instrumental in Southampton maintaining their position as the second best defence in the league despite being in 7th place (they in fact had the best defence until a few weeks ago).

With a dearth of quality home-grown players in the first team (Terry, Cahill and Fabregas being the only really top players), Mourinho’s decision to let him leave for such a small fee was totally ill-advised.

And the player who replaced him in the team, Filipe Luis (signed for 16 million pounds), has failed to displace Azpilicueta (a right-back by trade) at left-back. Which begs the question… why was a 29-year old overseas player signed as back-up for 16 million pounds when the team had a capable 25-year old home-grown player available?

Next: Conclusion