Chelsea’s transfer window is already one of their best in years

Chelsea cannot buy any player this summer thanks to the ban. In a way, this window has already been one of the best in years.

Normally, a transfer ban would hurt a club like Chelsea. The Blues always seem to need one or two players to compete (even though the club wins silverware almost annually). But at this moment, the ban is like a breath of fresh air.

Here is how a normal transfer window goes. Chelsea is linked to a big name player in the Spring. Fans get excited. The rumor kicks around being “48 hours away” every single day until it finally happens sometime in July. And because Chelsea simply refuses to negotiate more than one deal at a time, they then need to scramble for their next target. All the big name players are already off the table at this point so they shell out for a player that could be good but is usually not. They are then stuck with that player on inflated wages until Marina Granovskaia waves her magic wand and somehow gets a good price for them.

That is a normal window. But this window is anything but normal because of the ban. And because of that, this may already be one of Chelsea’s best transfer windows since 2014.

First of all is Frank Lampard. It is unlikely that the club would have appointed Lampard without the lowered expectations that come with the ban. That does not mean Maurizio Sarri would have stayed since he seemed pretty intent on riding another coattail up, but it does mean that Chelsea would have pushed harder for other manager options first.

Obviously, Lampard is inexperienced. But the feel good factor he has brought before a match has been played has already been a big boost for the club. That would not have existed if almost any other manager had come in.

Tied to that is Petr Cech. Cech is not quite the technical director but he is as close as he can get. He too, is inexperienced in his role. But now he has a full year to plan for showtime. If the club is smart about things, Cech could always be a year ahead on what the club needs and who the club can get to fill that need.

The ban also helps Chelsea retain players that “already had their chance”. In a normal window, players like Tiemoue Bakayoko, Michy Batshuayi, and even Kurt Zouma would have been moved on to make room for new transfers. But this is a summer of second chances. Players who would normally be on the end of their rope now have one last chance to show Chelsea why the club bought them in the first place.

And of course, the youth. For years, as the academy quite literally won it all, there was a desire to integrate those players into the first team. It never really happened in part because every new manager is a reset on youth and in part because the club kept hiring managers who could care less about the future. Lampard made his intentions clear not only with his words, but with his coaching staff including Jody Morris and Joe Edwards.

More than ever, the pipeline is there for the youth to cross over. They need to take their chances but at least they actually have a chance this time around.

And almost none of this would have happened had the Blues been able to buy this summer. They would have surely bought a center back they did not need, a right back that blocked Reece James’ path, a striker that would prove to be another bust.

There are no guarantees this season will be a success. But there is a certain sense of peace that has come with avoiding the usual slip ups in the market. If the Blues can use this summer to get the house in order and see what they actually have in stock, then it will go down as one the greatest transfer windows in Chelsea history.