Chelsea transfer Papy Djilobodji to Sunderland because no one knows why he was signed
By George Perry
Papy Djilobodji’s sole appearance for Chelsea in a League Cup match against Walsall will, in fact, be his only one. Djilobodji signed with Sunderland yesterday, where he is David Moyes’ first signing since taking over.
Papy Djilobodji has a lot in common with Baba Rahman. Both are defenders. Both hail from west African nations – Djilobodji from Senegal, Rahman from Ghana. Jose Mourinho signed both players in August 2015. And no one really knows why he did so.
Djilobodji, not wanting to continue in Rahman’s loan army footsteps, differentiated himself yesterday by signing a permanent transfer to Sunderland. Sunderland paid £8 million for Djilobodji, providing Chelsea with a nearly £6 million profit on a player whom they deployed for a matter of minutes.
A transfer or a loan were Djilobodji’s only real options for the upcoming season. He has been a non-factor in the pre-season, not even garnering passing interest from the media like Matt Miazga has.
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Despite Chelsea’s need for center-backs, Djilobodji was far down the depth chart, below the likes of Rahman, Miazga and Jake Clarke-Salter. Even Fikayo Tomori, on the back of his exceptionally strong 2015/16 campaign on the youth teams, was more likely to crack the first team in 2016/17 than Djilobodji.
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Shedding dead weight does nothing to help Chelsea’s defensive situation, unless the money saved and the profit realized is put directly into the Kalidou Koulibaly Transfer Fund. Djilobodji’s departure will not speed Miazga’s, Clarke-Salter’s or Tomori’s promotion to the first team. Each of these prospects need at least one year on loan to develop Premier League-caliber skills and to prepare to challenge Chelsea’s incumbents on the back line.
Like this week’s Mohamed Salah transfer, Chelsea is paying homage to Winston Churchill by always doing the right thing after exhausting every other option. At 27, Djilobodji is too old to live the loanee life. Further loan spells would not benefit his career, Chelsea nor his foster team (unless he scores another relegation-escaping goal). Two coaches – including the one who signed him – found no use for him at the club. At least the third coach was up front about it.
The lack of strategic vision for youth development and a roadmap for bringing youth signings into the starting XI led to a glut of players on the bench, in Cobham and on loan. Now that Chelsea has a manager who knows what he wants, how he will get there and who he needs, Chelsea is streamlining its roster to build a team around a purpose rather than whims.
Two transfers and a one-way loan in one week are a far shout from a purge, but Chelsea is cleaning out some of Mourinho’s lingering legacy. It’s like getting rid of that chair that you never really liked but you bought it with your ex-girlfriend, and for whatever reason you still have it even though she moved out when you broke up two years ago.
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So far, Papy Djilobodji has not shot his mouth off about Antonio Conte or the Premier League. If he can continue to differentiate himself from Baba Rahman in this respect, he might find a good run awaiting him on Wearside.