Tactics and Transfers: Chelsea doesn’t need a centerback this summer

Chelsea will continue to make additions until the transfer window closes in October this season but one they don’t need is a centerback.

If you’ve read this website or in this very column at any point during the past year, then you know how displeased literally every member of The Pride of London is with Chelsea’s defense this season. Where we diverge is where the blame lies and who is at fault. Now I know what you’re thinking, dear reader. “Why don’t they just do what you say, Barrett?”. I thank you for your kind words and while I agree with you not all of my colleagues are wrong.

What Chelsea has is a bit of a chicken or the egg situation but this one is threefold. If this were a Quentin Tarantino movie, it would be a Mexican standoff. We don’t know if Chelsea’s abysmal defensive record is that the goalkeeper was as poor as he was this year and the defense isn’t to blame. We also don’t know if the defense were terrible and thus the goalkeeper was left on an island and simply blamed for issues that he could not figuratively nor literally save. We also don’t know if the defense was terrible because the left-back situation was so inane that they were simply pulled out of position to solve it and thus the whole structure collapsed onto itself.

What we do know though is that Ben Chilwell should solve at least one of those issues which will then allow us to control some of the variables.

The truth is that Kepa Arrizabalaga is too expensive to replace without any sort of economic sacrifice being made by the club at some point. Though it’s not an ideal situation to be in, it is the reality that Chelsea are presented with and they are inclined to make it work. Therefore they need to move forward.

The centerback issue is what you’d then look to address next. Oddly, Chelsea has a collection of mildly well thought of central defenders to call upon. Literally each one of them is internationally capped and possesses a good combination of strength and speed. Considering that one of the biggest issues that the team had last season was the positioning of its central defense (a crazy issue to even mention) there’s an argument to be made that their positioning was affected by the leftback being out of their tactical place more often than they were actually in it.

Therefore if Chelsea has already solved the left back issue by agreeing to the purchase of Ben Chilwell, there’s a possibility that addition on its own could fix the defense and the goalkeeping problems while saving Chelsea the money of having to supplement additionally in those areas.

That’s not even accounting for the fact that Chelsea’s best young player, Ethan Ampadu, a central defender, will be returning as well which presents them with yet another option they don’t need to purchase.

It also then allows the Blues to examine those areas moving forward in a much better and more controlled manner. For too long a time the Blues have recruited in a haphazard and indirect method while not giving much credence to even the theory of long term planning.

This then brings us to the get out of jail free card that recently signed a new contract with a reduced minimum fee release clause that comes into effect next summer. Dayot Upamecano, the 21-year-old French defensive phenom signed a new contract at RB Leipzig this summer to stop him leaving next summer on a free. That contract possesses a release clause in it that lets the player out of his deal for only 42 million euros. Mind you, this is a player who many pundits believe is worth somewhere between 65 and 80 million euros in the normal market.

If Chelsea aren’t able to solve their defensive issues by next season, having taken another year to observe the issue and get the players in rhythm without injury or the Coronavirus, then Upamecano is the perfect option. He’s easily one of the top 5 young defenders in the world and at that price Chelsea wouldn’t even need to think twice about the move.

Chelsea should solve this problem with patience and planning. It’s the only thing that works. The only club in the world that has run its transfer scheme with less overall direction in recent years has been Barcelona and look how that turned out recently. If a perfect short term deal can work that helps steady the ship at the right number then that would be okay but West London’s finest should not feel pressured into any deal that doesn’t work for them in both the near and long term.

With Upamecano’s deal in the perfect place and the addition of Chilwell solving at least one of the glaring holes in the team a calm and measured approach to team building is what would work best for the Blues this summer. Even though the market is excitingly in a bear run currently and good deals are available Chelsea should not cut off their nose to spite their face. They have done it too many times in recent years and the sooner they learn better the sooner they’ll perform better too.

Unless it’s Lionel Messi, but that’s neither here nor there. If they can buy Messi they may as well. He’s Lionel Messi for God’s sake you may as well have him. But other than that, calm and patience win the day. But who knows what calm and patience and Messi might do?