Chelsea would not need to break the bank or sacrifice other transfer priorities to sign Jadon Sancho. And even if they did, Sancho is entirely worth it.
Normally I save my words for the next Tactics and Transfers, but this deserves to not wait until Monday. Though my colleague Abhishek is normally well-informed and intelligent in how he applies that information, he could not be further from correct in his argument that Chelsea shouldn’t sign Jadon Sancho.
When you have the opportunity to sign a game-changing, decisive, elevates-the-talent-of-your-whole-squad-alone player, you do that. You do it regardless of their age or their price, because the purchase intrinsically is important because of what it means for the club’s ambition. The goal isn’t just to be OK, or mediocre, or intelligent in your commentary from the back. The goal is to win. Win today, tomorrow and every single second, minute, hour and day until everyone else disbands in misery and hopelessness to pursue other sports.
I have said many times that if you have the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, then you should do it. If you have the opportunity to sign Lionel Messi, then you do it. If you have the opportunity to sign Kylian Mbappe, then you do it. And if you have the opportunity to sign Jadon Sancho – the next player in that line – then you do it.
This is not the sort of thing you should rationalize and analyze into boring drivel. That is why football is fantastic, heart wrenching, artistic, athletic and poetic all at once, while accounting is accounting.
Jadon Sancho is a 20-year old winger who is somewhere between Neymar and Eden Hazard in his potential, and already better than any player currently at Chelsea. He’s from London and his goal isn’t to go play at Real Madrid or Barcelona someday. He wants to be a Chelsea player. How rare is that? He has videos of himself singing Blue is the Color in his car, for God’s sake.
Chelsea are often a stepping stone. Not in this case. This time and maybe just this time they are the goal, and that’s worth its weight in gold. This time the world class, generational, could-be-top-five-in-the-world player wants to be a Chelsea player. Jadon Sancho is the sort of player who can elevate his entire team and he wants that team to be Chelsea.
It’s good for the morale of the team and the murmurs in the terraces. It’s good for the security guard at the training ground and the tea lady in the canteen.
We don’t even have to mention the fact that some of his best friends in football are already Chelsea players. That’s the sort of bond that turns a team from good into the Class of 92 or Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.
It’s true, yes, he will be expensive. No doubt about it. But the rebuild will take time and Jadon Sancho is the sort of player to whom you don’t say no. A decade of him, certainly not.
If Chelsea only have £150 million to spend this summer then, for the talent that Sancho is, they should suck it up and just add him. Then, after, they can realize that in the end it’s patience that was going to win the day, anyway… but at least they’re building a team that boasts the best three young English attackers, and they’re friends and they’re Blue.
That said, there’s no mistaking that Chelsea’s defence is the worst thing I’ve ever seen (mind you, I didn’t see Cats), and Kepa Arrizabalaga hasn’t been good enough this season. I know all of that, in painful detail. But to all four of the centerbacks and Arrizabalaga, I would grant another year of patience to try and sort things out.
As for the left back position, it would be stupid to pay the rumored £70-80 million for Ben Chilwell. If that’s what Leicester really want, then don’t do it. Simple. Likewise, Alex Telles exists but he hasn’t been as good in this second half anyway, so his fee would likely come down to somewhere between £45-60 million, particularly with a player offered on loan in return.
Sancho, though, is the sort of player that would make it worthwhile to suck it up and have another season with Cesar Azpilicueta at left back, in all his captainly magnificence (Chelsea did, after all, win a title with him there). That, or you could go to a 3-4-3 for a season and actually utilize the squad’s best characteristics. Alas, I digress.
Finally, £150 million as a war chest is small by today’s standards, but doesn’t account for the money that Chelsea will make this summer in player sales.
They’ve already agreed to sell Mario Pasalic for £12.5 million. Then they’re going to get another £58 million on July 1 from Atletico Madrid for Alvaro Morata. If Chelsea sell Marcos Alonso, who wants out, for £20 million, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Michy Batshuayi at steep losses for another £20 million each, Ross Barkley for £15 million and even possibly Jorginho for – conservatively – £35 million, they are suddenly looking at far more money.
That’s roughly £180 million in player sales and that’s not including the rumored N’Golo Kante sale (take a deep breath – no one wants this) that would bring in £70-85 million.
£180 million (or more) in sales plus the £150 million already in reserve is £330 million.
In that case, shouldn’t Chelsea buy the best players they possibly can? Yes. You always pick the best talent, not the best balance sheet. Need we go over the goals as previously stated again? I thought not.
Trophies are collected in football for winning games, not having the most sense-driven pocketbook. We’ve already spent too many years adopting Arsenal’s age policies in direct conflict with the proof that sports science has extended careers past that stupid, ageist and anti-loyalty shameful 30’s rule.
This will be the summer Jadon Sancho moves. Chelsea must sign him. Otherwise he goes to Manchester United and we watch him turn into one of the best players in the division for another side in direct competition with Chelsea. This is an arms race and you can’t sit it out. If it means other needs are put off one more year then so be it. But it’s unlikely they would need to be put off anyway, so there’s no need for that debate.
If things really are that bad, Chelsea should for the love of all things holy finally respect the free transfer market. Supplement the purchases with backups in Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani. A few old heads to teach people how to do their jobs wouldn’t be terrible. They’ll both only need to play 20 matches or fewer anyway.
Jadon Sancho is the best player available this summer. He wants to be a Chelsea player. He should be a Chelsea player. It’s better for everyone involved if it happens.