Chelsea: Shutdown buys a bit of time to ensure transfer activity is lined up

The Premier League season will extend into the summer transfer window, which means contract expirations will be on hold for a bit while everyone figures out whatever is going on. This gives Chelsea a bit more time to get things right.

Willian earned a few headlines yesterday by committing to Chelsea through the end of the season, whenever that is, even though his contract expires during the summer. He is one of four players – all in the upper end of the age range – to be winding down their last few months at the club, but now they have a few extra months due to the virus interruptus.

Football’s governing bodies and various armies of lawyers will have to figure out what the change in the seasons means for existing contracts and the upcoming transfer window. It seems unlikely FIFA would allow transfers to happen while the 2019/20 season is still in progress, but they’ve done dumber things. More likely, the summer transfer window will be based on the start of the 2020/21 season. The window could also extend further into the season than usual, something the Premier League has yo-yo’d on in recent years.

Chelsea can use the extra time – starting now, because what else are they doing? – to line up their transfer activity and get everything right. One of their first sets of decisions involves those four players.

Willian is the only player with a reasonable chance of staying. Unlike Pedro and Olivier Giroud, he has been a regular in the starting XI and was not linked with a move away in January. Giroud and Pedro would likely be forced to accept a large reduction in wage along with the clear understanding that they would play even less than they have this season. There’s little reason for them to accept those terms, as they could get either more money or more minutes by going elsewhere.

The added few months buy Chelsea time to negotiate the terms of Willian staying, if either side wants that. There will be no excuse for Willian to leave on a free transfer along with the others, only for the club to flop and flounder in the run-up to the next deadline day. The Blues have all the time and information they need to make a signing early in the transfer window, whenever that may be, so they can start the next season with the continuity and stability they were denied at the end of this window.

Long before the transfer window opens, Chelsea should know exactly what they want from the market. If they fear the loss of experience that would come from losing Pedro, Willian, Giroud and Caballero, they have the opportunity to square those things away now so they don’t buy a new, different 32-year old in late August or maybe September.

Someone needs to be working during this shutdown. Hopefully it’s whoever makes such decisions.