The Comprehensive Chelsea FC Transfer Window Round-Up

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Here are all the moves that Chelsea FC have made during the summer transfer window

That’s it. The transfer deadline has past and the metaphorical window is shut. Chelsea FC have been relatively busy (in absolute terms) throughout the summer, so let’s take a moment to round-up what deals the club have made.

The Blues headed into this transfer window with the intention of addressing some severe lack of depth in certain departments. Even though they had won both the Premier League and the Capital One Cup last time out, the Stamford Bridge brass knew that Chelsea had been rather fortunate with regard to injuries.

Quality playing talent was not exceptionally deep and should the club have been hit by an injury crisis the likes of which we see too often, there is no telling how the season would have gone.

Defence was a priority. Last season Chelsea had relied on 34-year-old John Terry to defy human nature and play every minute of every Premier League match. The starting back four of Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta made 160 competitive appearances between them.

A few additions going forward wouldn’t have gone amiss either. With the likes of Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy destined for departure (true in the former’s case, incorrect in the latter’s), a striker or a winger would have certainly helped the club become real Champions League challengers.

With all that, let’s take a look at Chelsea’s ins and outs over the last three months.

All data taken from transfermarkt.com.

Next: Goalkeeper

Goalkeeper

One of Chelsea FC’s biggest departures was Petr Cech. Thibaut Courtois had taken over as the club’s number 1 after spending three seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid. By the time he returned to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2014, he was ready to be Jose Mourinho’s first choice and that left Cech starved of playing time.

At the age of 33, one could understand the Czech international’s wish to move in order to receive first team football. Furthermore, given the impeccable service that Cech had afforded the club over his 11 year stint, and the grace and professionalism with which he accepted his demotion, Roman Abramovich allowed him to choose his next destination.

With Arsenal interested and willing to pay, Cech opted for the North London club for reasons that may well have included the luxury of not needing to relocate his young family. The deal was announced on June 29th with Chelsea receiving somewhere in the region of £10million.

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The move has since received mixed reviews among Blues fans, but at the moment there are bigger issues at Stamford Bridge to worry about.

Matej Delac, meanwhile, returned to FK Sarajevo on loan until the end of the season.

Next: Defence

Defence

This was an area of concern for the Blues as the transfer window opened. Having said that, they spent a large chunk of this period being linked with numerous players but failed to do any business until the deadline closed in.

The John Stones transfer saga dominated the headlines for the most part with Chelsea submitting numerous bids. However, Everton refused to let the player go and the Blues had to look elsewhere. This resulted in the club being linked with the likes of Marquinhos, Ezequiel Garay and Aymen Abdennour but Chelsea left it to Deadline Day to secure a centre-back.

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Papy Djilobodji joined the Blues from FC Nantes and Michael Hector came over from Reading for £4million each. The latter, though, was immediately sent back to spend the rest of this season on loan.

With regard to full-backs, Filipe Luis returned to Atletico Madrid fairly early on. The Brazilian failed to make an impression during his one campaign at Stamford Bridge and was most probably releived to be returning to the comforts of the Vicente Calderon.

Chelsea replaced Luis with Abdul Baba Rahman, who joined on August 17th in a £14m deal. With the poor form of Branislav Ivanovic, he had turned into a much-needed acquisition.

Cristian Manea was also signed in a strange transfer that still hasn’t really been acknowledged by the club, but the supposed wonderkid has been loaned out to Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz for the year.

Several other players have been temporarily dismissed as well, including Andreas Christensen, Tomas Kalas and Kenneth Omeruo.

Next: Midfield

Midfield

Chelsea relied heavily last season on Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas. They were the two midfielders who were expected to put in a long shift and act as the pillars of the team. They both performed admirably but it was generally accepted that the Blues could do with an extra world-class option in there.

The duo’s back-up largely came in the form of John Obi Mikel and Ramires. While these two players have proven their worth throughout their Blues careers, at this point they are not exactly the talent that would make Chelsea Champions League winners.

Other than that, other viable options for this campaign were inexperienced. Nathan Ake was somewhat bled into the team last season while Kurt Zouma showed that he could be useful in a midfield role. However, there really was a space for a more seasoned talent with players such as Paul Pogba linked with a Blues move.

That did not happen. Chelsea instead signed youngsters in Kenedy, Nathan and Danilo Pantic; only Kenedy is currently in West London. Additionally, Ake has been loaned out alongside Lewis Baker and Marko Van Ginkel.

The Blues also permanently parted ways with Eden Hazard’s brother, Thorgan, while the troubled Stamford Bridge careers of Oriol Romeu and Josh McEachran were rather mercifully brought to an end.

Let’s just hope that we have very few injuries in this department.

Next: Attack

Attack

This area of the field was always going to involve the most high-profile, and expensive, players and it reprised it’s usual role this summer.

Last season Chelsea had a strike force consisting of Diego Costa, Loic Remy and Didier Drogba. Those charged with assisting them included Eden Hazard and Oscar. With Drogba leaving the club on a free, there was a slot to be filled up front. The Blues would be looking for a top talent since Costa’s hamstring could not be trusted.

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Jose Mourinho and the Chelsea management moved quickly in this department and acquired Radamel Falcao on loan by July 3rd. Chelsea then continued to be linked with several strikers such as Charlie Austin since Loic Remy was heavily rumoured to be on his way out of Stamford Bridge.

In the end Remy’s departure did not materialise and nor did another striker deal. Furthermore, Patrick Bamford was not kept in West London (as was touted) with the youngster heading to Crystal Palace on loan.

Chelsea’s biggest piece of business was reserved for the winger/forward role. In a miraculous heist, the Stamford Bridge transfer team led by Marina Granovskaia managed to steal Pedro from under Manchester United’s noses in a deal worth close to £20million.

RELATED: Chelsea FC Transfers: Profiling Marina Granovskaia

Over the course of August 18th-19th, the Blues managed to convince Pedro to snub Manchester for West London and an agreement with Barcelona was formally announced on August 20th.

Meanwhile in terms of out-going players, several prominent youngsters were again loaned out including Lucas Piazon, Dominic Solanke and Isaiah Brown. Mohamed Salah was involved in a farcical saga before being sent away to Roma while a nightmare six months for Juan Cuadrado culminated in a loan to Juventus.

Gael Kakuta was also given a chance to resurrect a flailing career with a £4.2million move to Sevilla.

That was the comprehensive Chelsea FC 2015/16 summer transfer window round-up, and now it is over to you. Let us know your thoughts on the various Blues transactions in the comments below!

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