Chelsea is too irresistible a target for ridiculous rumours, even when the club is stuck under a transfer ban. Some silliness from otherwise respectable sources lead our handy guide of what to look for today.
Chelsea are prohibited from registering new players, but that’s no impediment to people making up crazy stories about Chelsea pursuing new players, or existing players making ludicrous conditions for a contract condition. Fortunately, the Blues have a friendly against Reading to give us something somewhat substantial to talk about.
1. Chelsea and Wilfried Zaha get pre-pre-engaged
The Telegraph and Matt Law are normally two of the most reliable and respectable sources. However, sometimes they appear to either misunderstand their sources, get taken for a ride by their sources or just get stuck under worse pressure to file stories than we do here.
The Telegraph published a story yesterday that Everton’s pursuit of Wilfriend Zaha is in jeopardy as Chelsea are working to get a commitment from Zaha and Crystal Palace for a move next summer, when the Blues can register players again. That in itself is pushing the limits of credulity, as the Blues have no reason to start looking for a forward now to sign in 12 months. Zaha, for all his talent, is not sufficiently different from anyone the Blues have to warrant signing, let alone under these unusual circumstances.
Where Law jumps the shark is saying that Crystal Palace are willing to delay Zaha’s move in order to deal with Chelsea instead of Everton because they are hoping to get Michy Batshuayi as part of the deal.
The Blues are just now starting to realize that a player’s sense of security and stability in his future are significant motivators, which means they are predictors of performance. As they learned with another recently departed striker, if a player no longer wants to be with the club or thinks his days are numbered, he acts like it.
Batshuayi is playing this preseason like a man determined to not leave Chelsea again. If the club tells him that he’s just a stop-gap until sending him back to Crystal Palace next season, they risk all the effort and enthusiasm that he has always brought to this team, and his others.
If the Blues want to offload Batshuayi, they can do so this season. Or they can wait until next season. But they are not going to put into motion a public chain of events where the star forwards for two clubs knows their time at those clubs are limited. That would not work out any better for Crystal Palace than it would for Chelsea.
2. Callum Hudson-Odoi to Marina: No. 10 or bust!
About 12 hours before Law’s post, the Evening Standard’s Simon Johnson decided to scupper some of his own credibility. After Tuesday’s report that Reece James’ season is conditional on a Davide Zappacosta loan, Johnson said the latest hold-up on Callum Hudson-Odoi’s contract talks is his demands to wear the No. 10 jersey next season.
If this is true, Hudson-Odoi has basically told Dominic Solanke “Hold my beer.” If it’s not true, come on, Simon, wyd.
3. Actual football to occur at Reading
Chelsea’s preseason continues at Reading, whose two most recent signings are Blues’ serial loanee Matt Miazga and Thibaut Courtois’ recurring nightmare, Charlie Adam.
Frank Lampard seems to be settling in on a 4-2-3-1 as Chelsea’s main set-up. If he spends most of the game in this formation, cycling players through it, then it will pretty well solidify expectations for what the Blues will do on opening day.
Our player to watch is Jorginho. By his own admission he is more free to create and play his own game than he ever was under Maurizio Sarri, which was obvious to anyone with a nominal level of football sapience given the rote rigidity of every player under Sarri. The main difference between Jorginho and some others on the team is how dutifully Jorginho executed Sarri’s instructions, while other, more selfish players went off on their own program to, you know, win games.
Every game Jorginho takes the pitch is his opportunity to show what he could have been doing this whole time if not for his tobacco mongering patron. If Jorginho can do what he indicates he can do when given the freedom, and maybe even notch that long-awaited assist, his interview this week will be a mere teaser to what will surely be a must-read set of memoirs: “Those Four Lost Years: Confessions of a Reformed Regista.”
4. Salvage job for Tiemoue Bakayoko
The rumours of Paris Saint-Germain’s interest in Tiemoue Bakayoko never made much sense, so it makes eminent sense that the rumours are now backing off this story.
Bakayoko has not left much of a mark this preseason. The option of opening talks with PSG for a loan or transfer gave the Blues an easy out if Bakayoko did not turn the corner in the remaining few weeks. However, with PSG stepping away from the table, the Blues may have a hard time finding a club who will take him unless Chelsea are willing to chip in for some of his wages.
Bakayoko should be part of the squad this season, as the most effective defensive backup to N’Golo Kante or as the best defensive partner to Kante in the midfield. But he cannot trade on potential or “should” – he needs to prove it to Frank Lampard in the next few games.
Whatever minutes Lampard gives him at Reading will be crucial in Bakayoko’s season. If the French champions no longer want him, he needs to show Chelsea why he should stay, or at least why they shouldn’t agree with the next team to inquire about him.