Fans burdened by the ghosts of Chelsea transfer windows past

There are two types of Chelsea transfer rumors: the world class and the terrible. Fans are burdened by the ghosts of windows past in evaluating rumors.

In the past decade, Chelsea has had far more bad transfer windows than good. For every 2014 summer of Diego Costa’s and Cesc Fabregas’, there seems to be a full year of 2015/2016 of Papy Djiobodji’s and Alexandre Pato’s. That is not even to mention the out column of Mohamed Salah or Kevin De Bruyne.

It makes perfect sense that Chelsea fans are skeptical of any rumor because of these players. Linked to someone truly world class like Fabregas and Costa were at the time? Great! Linked to nearly any other player? Well then it is another Davide Zappacosta situation. Or the other side of the coin, the old “well yes they are bad at their club now, but Salah was bad for Chelsea and look at him now!”

These past failures of transfers in and transfers out still haunt Chelsea fans. It is happening again with the latest set of rumors about potential strikers and wingers.

Of course everyone wants Timo Werner. He is the clear standout of the group as he leads the line for the top Bundesliga team (currently), plays often for Germany, and is clearly a talent.

Fans are much cooler on Moussa Dembele and the latest rumors about Gabigol. The former “only” plays in the Ligue 1 and many see too much of a Michy Batshuayi situation. Many also bring up the retort of Didier Drogba being a late bloomer out of Ligue 1. Gabigol, meanwhile, is doing very well in Serie A. That is, Brazil’s Serie A. He did poorly in Italy’s Serie A and now the consensus about him is either he is a risk worth taking or Alexandre Pato 2.0.

Similar back and forths exist about the winger targets. Jadon Sancho is top of mind and has been before a single rumor was even written about him. But he would be very expensive and is more or less unavailable at the moment causing alternative options to be looked at such as Samuel Chukwueze or Leon Bailey. Many fans do not want to keep buying potential so are opposed to Chukwueze. Others do not like that Bailey cooled off after Chelsea’s initial interest a few years ago.

All of these rumors are, not unjustly, viewed through the lens of Chelsea’s previous failings. The fans are sick of Chelsea being linked to world class players all window only for the club to settle on a warm body by deadline day.

Chelsea should not buy just anyone when waiting just a few months makes someone they truly want available. Liverpool long neglected the easy “right now” option while they remained patient for the player they truly wanted and they built one of the world’s best teams that way. But that does not mean that every alternative is a bad one.

Take Cesar Azpilicueta. He was not brought in as a world class player. He was depth with potential at best, not unlike many of these rumors. But he quickly found his way into the lineup and has not looked back.

Chelsea has to get a lot right over the next few windows to earn trust back. They need to get it right this window and next to see out this season strong and mount a challenge next time out. But not every name linked is the immediate inferior option. The failings of the past cannot always inform on the current proceedings. But until Chelsea earns the benefit of the doubt, any name not clearly world class will be met with mountains of skepticism.