Chelsea: Mateo Kovacic the latest “overpay now, evaluate later” transfer

Chelsea converted Mateo Kovacic’s registration from a loan to a permanent transfer, making him the closest thing to a new signing in a summer under a transfer ban. The Blues rushed into this purchase, as they have with so many others.

Chelsea have spent millions of euros since Roman Abramovich took over. All that money has definitely brought the club success and put Chelsea in the bracket of elite clubs. While some signings lived up to their price and some seemed like a bargain after their performances, there have been many that did not prove equal to their fee.

More often that not, the Blues have either overpaid for players or bought players who did not justify their price tag. The most recent of these signings is Mateo Kovacic, for whom Chelsea paid €45 million.

The Croatian had spent the previous season on loan with Chelsea. The board should have evaluated his season better and not paid Real Madrid’s price. In 51 appearances he scored no goals and had just two assists in all competitions.

The transfer ban and a sense of desperation are not excuses for the club rushing into this deal. They should have negotiated the price for Kovacic and, if Real Madrid did not lower it, Chelsea could have easily called up on someone from the loan army. Instead, they spent almost half the money they received for Eden Hazard.

Two seasons ago Chelsea signed Danny Drinkwater from Leicester City on deadline day for €37 million. He has made just 23 appearances with one goal. Buying a player and not even using him is money down the drain. Two years and barely any playing time for the man. Drinkwater could have been integrated into the squad and used for squad rotation.

By contrast, for €38 million the Blues bought Diego Costa, who was an absolute beast for and was worth every single penny. He was pivotal in Chelsea winning the Premier League twice in three years.

Drinkwater and Costa were in the same price range, but clearly not in the same range of value to the club.

Another striker, one who was brought in for nearly twice the money of Diego Costa, was Alvaro Morata at €66 million. Morata started off with a spark but never lit up Stamford Bridge. Morata had been constantly inconsistent to produce 24 goals in 72 matches. Chelsea somehow were able to receive €58 million for Morata from Atletico Madrid, who converted his loan to a transfer this summer (with the whole transaction going through next summer). Atletico had already paid a €3 million loan fee for the Spaniard and will be paying a further €55 million to buy him.

Chelsea signed Tiemoue Bakayoko for €40 million in 2017 after he shined in Ligue 1 with AS Monaco, showing real promise. However, at Chelsea he struggled to perform and failed to impress on loan at AC Milan last season. He was signed to replace Nemanja Matic, but clearly he came nowhere near that level.

Chelsea’s board needs to be better at evaluating players and their true values, perhaps sometimes waiting and observing how a player performs over a long period of time. They did this before buying Cesc Fabregas, Pedro and Diego Costa, and there are no regrets around those signings.

So much money has been thrown away, which could be used to sign better players or even provide current players with better contracts. Not that many of them deserve that after last season, but in the future, Chelsea can more judiciously put their money into other areas.