Marcos Alonso was one of Chelsea’s many surprises last season. Despite Alonso’s career-best year, Antonio Conte needs to upgrade his left wing-back with few options available.
Marcos Alonso had a decent season in 2016/17 at left wing-back. He popped up with some important goals, and for the most part was solid both defensively and going forward. However, he was not as adept on the flank as many made him out to be.
Alonso benefitted greatly from Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3. This system emphasized the strong points of his game, while hiding his weaknesses. It was outside the usual range of Premier League tactics, and teams struggled to adapt to it. The same will not be true of next season.
Against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, who were very familiar with three-at the-back formations, Alonso simply could not compete. In both games he was subbed off and Victor Moses came over to play on the left. That Conte would rather play Moses at left wing-back over Alonso when pushing to win games implies that Conte recognizes the need for a new starting left wing-back.
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This is why Conte and Chelsea have been so intent on signing Alex Sandro over a player like Ryan Bertrand. Bertrand would be a great squad player, but Chelsea do not want a squad player. They want a world-class quality starter, ideally one that could play in both left wing-back and left back to allow for tactical flexibility. Such players are incredibly rare, which is why Sandro represented such an important acquisition.
Chelsea have really messed up trying to play hardball with Juventus. Sometimes hardball works, and Morata signs for a relatively cheap £58 million. Often it does not, and Chelsea lose a player like Lukaku because they refuse to pay the requested agent fee. He ended up joining Manchester United, despite preferring a move to Chelsea.
For a club with a lot of money, Chelsea have a baffling record of missing out on top targets. Their global image of throwing money around, combined with expensive failed past endeavours, seem to have given them a chip on their shoulder. Now they insist on battling it out with clubs to try to get the best deal possible.
The only problem is that when clubs do not want to lose their best players, it is easy for them to also play hardball, and ultimately play it better. Either Chelsea pay more money, or the selling club keep a player they never wanted to sell in the first place.
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In recent years this led to the frustrating summer blueprint of chasing a player all window, such as Radja Nainngolan or Kalidou Koulibaly, only for him to stay with his current club. Often Chelsea do not leave themselves enough time to pursue a good alternative either.
Players like Sandro are highly valued and kept at clubs at all costs. There was a time when Juventus would likely have allowed Sandro to leave for the right price. Now that they have already sold Leonardo Bonucci and Dani Alves, they have closed the door on any more defender sales.
Chelsea cannot afford to start the season with only Marcos Alonso as an option. Kenedy is still at the club but his future is completely up in the air following his behaviour on the Asia Tour. Chelsea will most likely buy someone to provide cover and competition rather than start regularly. This will not make the team stronger over the long term, and Chelsea almost entirely have themselves to blame.
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There is a very slim chance that Chelsea will still sign Sandro, as he is yet to sign a new contract. Every passing day makes it a little less likely, and takes them a little closer to starting 2017/18 with a glaring hole in the squad. Anyone Chelsea brings in now will have little time to adjust to Conte’s tactics before the start of the season.