Chelsea: Major shift in transfer strategy delivering big dividends

Chelsea’s transfer strategy shift is making all the difference as club rebuilds to suit head coach Frank Lampard’s objectives.

The transfer window, which will extend into October, hasn’t begun yet but Chelsea is already assembling a team that can challenge for all the silverware in 2020/21. The change in strategy is that the club is now seemingly willing to pay top euro for the best players rather than extending negotiations and missing out.

The shift may actually have begun much earlier than the signing of Hakim Ziyech. One may look back to the great piece of business that the club engineered in buying an emerging international star, Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea purchased the player for a fee of $59.40M in January of 2019 and then loaned him back to Dortmund for the rest of the season. Chelsea was able to negotiate the transfer in the January window last season before their two window transfer ban went into effect last summer. Pulisic was therefore eligible to join the club for the 2019/20 season. That has turned out to be a masterstroke by club management as Pulisic has come off the restart on fire and is nearing double digit goals for the season, after having been injured for several months.

This flexibility in negotiating and the club’s willingness to eschew saving every last euro on deals is the new strategy that is realizing tremendous rewards for the Blues. Securing Hakim Ziyech from Ajax also seemed a smooth and seamless transaction and a bargain to boot at $44M.  The goodwill that accrues from a smooth transaction like that is not only securing one player but could also bode well in the future. Ajax is a terrific developer of young talent and a good relationship with that club could bring additional top players to Chelsea. Andre Onana, their solid young keeper, immediately comes to mind.

The next transfer in the line was the amazing signing of Timo Werner, the goal machine from Leipzig. It had been widely publicized that Werner had an almost unbelievably low release clause of £52 million pounds. For a player who was tearing up the Bundesliga with goals, that was a fantastically good deal. Yet, rather than try to bargain down the already reasonable fee, Chelsea essentially paid the full release amount. Again, this solidifies a good relationship with Leipzig to which Chelsea had loaned Ethan Ampadu for the 2019/20 season. To sign a 30 goal scorer from a team in a major competitive league for that amount is really exceptional transfer management.

Next in line may indeed be Kai Havertz. Havertz’s fee is quite a bit higher at $91 million, yet reports indicate that Chelsea may structure the fee in installments. If this deal is ultimately fictionalized, it again demonstrates the willingness of Chelsea to pay the true worth of a world class young player and mitigate the financial sting somewhat by arranging a more favorable payment schedule. Havertz is the key piece necessary to tie together the now substantial attacking talent on the squad.

While all transfers are risky, and larger transfers are very risky (note Kepa Arrizabalaga and Alvaro Morata as prime Chelsea examples), there seems little doubt that Havertz possesses the skills that Chelsea needs to meld together their attacking talent into a cohesive force. This is likely to be another fantastic investment for Chelsea.

Should the Havertz transfer be completed, there is still much to do for the Blues in the upcoming window. But the transfers of Pulisic, Ziyech, Werner, and Havertz are foundational steps on the way to future championships.

Next up on the agenda, Declan Rice and Andre Onana. This is shaping up to be quite a transfer window, indeed.