Chelsea set to miss out on Achraf Hakimi which is fine

Chelsea had been hoping to take advantage of Inter Milan’s financial situation by signing one of their best players. At first, that was Romelu Lukaku until he announced he wanted to stay. The Blues pivoted to the next most likely option, Achraf Hakimi, with Paris Saint-Germain also sniffing around.

It appears, however, that the pursuit is coming to an end. Chelsea wanted Achraf Hakimi, but not at the prices Paris Saint-Germain were willing to pay. That’s pretty okay overall though.

First of all, Chelsea has developed a habit since the transfer ban of buying players out of opportunity rather than need. Did Chelsea need Kai Havertz or Timo Werner? Not really but when both were available the Blues got them anyways. Did Chelsea need Hakimi? Not really, but again, while he’s available he’s at least worth going for first and figuring out how he fits second.

That being said, the figures being thrown around were rather absurd for a wingback. 70-80 plus the potential of losing a player and creating a new gap to fill in the squad? Hakimi’s good, world class in some aspects and passable enough in others, but the overall deal always looked more like a drag that a lift for the Blues.

The main reason for targeting a player like Hakimi seems to have been to move Reece James out of right wingback. The English man is fantastic as a player but he is somewhat passive offensively. Hakimi would have allowed James to be deployed elsewhere while giving Chelsea a strong wingback option.

It would also have wedded Chelsea to a back three for the foreseeable future. Thomas Tuchel has been excellent, but his career has not exactly been three at the back or nothing and that’s not even considering the average shelf life of managers at the club and the availability of other three at the back managers. It would have been a lot of money to solve a low level problem that could just become a headache in a season or two (again, given the history of the club).

There were also concerns about what it would mean for other players. What would happen with Callum Hudson-Odoi who only ever really found minutes at wingback? What of the promising Valentino Livramento with a contract running out and seeing the pipeline blocked? And what would the signing have done for the pursuits of Erling Haaland or anyone else?

Hakimi’s a good player but there was a lot of baggage that came with the deal besides just the hefty price. PSG will strengthen by having him and that’s fine, but the Blues can now direct their efforts in other ways.

Striker is still priority number one, two, and three but if Tuchel is set on getting James away from a role that requires offense, there are a few ways to go about it. A new winger (as in, a true winger not the inverted wingers Chelsea has used for the best part of the last two seasons) could allow James (or Cesar Azpilicueta) to stay deeper and absolve them of some offensive responsibility. This could also be achieved in a roundabout way by signing a midfielder to make 4-3-3 viable again and using Christian Pulisic (or Hudson-Odoi) as the wide option. Chelsea could still sign a wingback too, but alternative options such as Adama Traore don’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence overall. Or, perhaps the craziest idea, is to develop James, Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi, or Livramento into the wingback Tuchel requires.

Hakimi, at the end of the day, would have been mostly a luxury signing with some less than ideal drawbacks. It’s never great to see the club be beaten to a signing but now Chelsea can shift gears more fully to the bigger fish to fry or find alternative options with less baggage. There is no need to panic (yet) given all this deal could have entailed for the club’s present and future.