Chelsea has been planning for a return to the top under Frank Lampard. The plan itself is not revolutionary but it is certainly refreshing.
Even if one does not have a subscription to The Athletic, they can still listen to The Ornstein & Chapman podcast or the Straight Outta Cobham podcast to learn some inside details about Timo Werner to Chelsea. Some of the same audio is used on both in reference to Werner but a few key points stand out.
The first is that, traditionally, Chelsea is not a club that generally has a long term plan. Werner, if he signs, was more about opportunity rather than a vision involving him. The second is that Chelsea does currently have a three year plan that they are operating on.
Year one is stabilize the club. The Blues should currently still be in that phase. Year two is strengthen and prepare to challenge for silverware. Chelsea is laying that groundwork down now. Finally, year three is regain the Premier League. The plan itself is not revolutionary, but it is refreshing for a club that has not had much of a plan in recent years.
Stabilizing the club was surely the shortest part of the plan and it is already somewhat clear that it did not need a full season. The Blues needed a manager that simply let the club be itself again and not some cardboard facsimile of Pep Guardiola or whoever else. The youth revolution only helped that momentum along.
The Blues remained in the FA Cup when matches halted, but overall the club was already trending towards year two of the three year plan. The stop in play has allowed for a head start on year two with Hakim Ziyech and (presumably) Werner deals being sorted out. The Blues are not done yet either with a left back the next key target.
Year two and year three, much like year one and two of the plan, blend together. Chelsea is truly only a few key players away from a return to the top. Ziyech and (hopefully) Werner bring that closer, but a new left back and perhaps a new center back and/or goal keeper sends the Blues right into year three.
Overall, this plan is not crazy. It did not start with Frank Lampard and Petr Cech sitting down and saying they want this player by this date and this one by this date. Instead, they formed a simple framework with a lot of flexibility and they were provided by the club with the most valuable resource of all: time.
The whole notion of a three year plan at Chelsea is refreshing only because one has to really dig deep to find the last manager that could have possibly happened for. Antonio Conte? Probably not given how things were already deteriorating in his first summer. Jose Mourinho is likely the best bet and this current summer of activity looks a whole lot like the 2014 summer. The three year plan looks similar too, at least on paper. 2013/2014 to stabilize, 2014/2015 to challenge for titles (done ahead of time), and 2015/2016 was meant to regain the crown at the top but the reinforcement stopped.
Chelsea, Lampard, and Cech have a plan forward. They are somewhat ahead of schedule and that means that they need to plan for the future ahead of schedule as well. But just for this moment, it is nice to know Chelsea has some sort of plan at all. Even if it is just a very simple one.