Chelsea are struggling mightily to attract their transfer targets. Perhaps the Blues need to work on their sales pitch (or simply just let Antonio Conte do all the talking).
“Why aren’t people buying our product?” is a question plenty of businesses ask every day. Chelsea’s front office might need to break out the PowerPoints, working groups, brainstorming sessions and everything else you learn in business school to figure out why their transfer targets are so reluctant to sign on at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea’s top-line pitch is very straight-forward. They have won five Premier League titles, one Champions League, one Europa League and seven domestic cups in the last 15 years. Antonio Conte won three Serie A titles and two cups as Juventus manager. Anyone arriving at Chelsea will play alongside multiple player of the year recipients, and a potential Ballon d’Or winner.
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Tactically, Chelsea have something for everyone. A centre-back at Chelsea is protected on all sides, by Thibaut Courtois in goal and N’Golo Kante ahead. Whether Chelsea line up in a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2, the centre-backs have support on the outside from the wing-backs forming a back-five on defence. A Chelsea centre-back has little risk of being left exposed unless he – or David Luiz himself – does something David Luiz-ish.
Centre-backs will also receive the education of a lifetime training under Antonio Conte. Conte empasizes defensive tactics and strategies across the whole pitch. He is trained in calcio, without being bogged down by it. Any centre-back that looks at Gary Cahill’s 2016/17 season should think “If that’s Cahill under Conte, I’m on my way to world’s best.”
Midfielders get the best of all worlds in Chelsea’s current set-up. For starters, they get to play alongside N’Golo Kante. For a more defensive-minded midfielder, playing with Kante means sport-hunting in the middle of the pitch. An offensive-minded midfielder has free rein knowing that Kante is there to hold. And a box-to-box midfielder will get to play through all the space Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante create on both sides.
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Up front, Eden Hazard creates more and better space than any player in the game. Whoever shares the front with him will be limited only by their initiative to exploit that space. They also have the benefit of Cesc Fabregas and – on occasion – David Luiz sailing deadly accurate passes to their feet. A Chelsea forward needs to be in the right place at the right time to take a touch and put the ball on net.
The flipside of all these somewhat passive arguments is that Chelsea’s squad and Antonio Conte offers the best opportunity for each player’s self-expression. Conte is Il Sarto – The Tailor – making the perfect suit from the players he has. He will design the formation and tactics around you – yes, you, young transfer target – and the other players around you. The amount of talent Chelsea have under Conte’s direction means that any player can freely play his best football as a Blue.
Somehow, despite all this, Chelsea cannot prevail on transfer targets to demand from their agent a hasty conclusion to negotiations. Romelu Lukaku is the prime example. He wanted to come back to Chelsea and would slot in easily to Chelsea’s tactical system. No, he would not enjoy Antonio Conte’s grueling emphasis on fitness and conditioning. But that should not outweigh the ambitions he claims to have, let alone his banter about wanting to play for the “biggest club in the world.”
Chelsea do themselves no favours in how they draw out the transfer process. Players interpret the delays as signs the Blues are not all that into them. Agents see it as an opportunity to extract more concessions and higher fees. And opponents see a chance to pull a fast one on the club. Again, the Lukaku situation had all three.
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However, Chelsea should have a line of transfer targets beating a line to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea should be able to pick and choose from any number of candidates demanding from their agents a move to west London. Instead, the Blues regularly scramble for deadline day signings after missing out on all their top targets.
The first step to reversing this trend is making the club look desirable to new players. The trophy case is only the first part of the sales pitch. But it should be enough to advance to the next step of the conversation. Antonio Conte may not have the time or inclination to make the case, but he and his ideas should be front and centre in the talks.
The second step is to remove the negativity around the club and the process. This will mean concluding deals faster, moving with a level of ambition and purpose that matches that of the players. This is a more difficult step, given the survival skills of Chelsea’s management staff. The direction – and change – will need to come from the owner himself.
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Stamford Bridge should be a buyer’s market. Somehow, though, the Blues have found a way to make themselves the weaker partner in every negotiation.