Depth and deadwood are the topics of discussion lately as the calendar continues to count down toward the closing of the transfer window. Thomas Tuchel revealed after the tune-up against Tottenham that his team currently has 42 players in it, a staggering amount for early August at any professional football club. The Blues have struggled to offload players recently due to the financial stagnation in the market caused by COVID-19. Instead of business as usual, Marina Granovskaia and her staff have had to sell academy products to raise funds for transfers.
Chelsea has offered a handful of players to multiple clubs in transfer discussions with no luck thus far. Sevilla, West Ham and Inter Milan have all had their eyes on players in the past, but are unable to strike a deal for any Blues at this moment in time. Chelsea now finds itself in a similar position to last summer as it looks to move on from at least one—if not two—of its left wingbacks.
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Chelsea can afford some sales at left wingback due to the positional flexibility and depth the team possesses elsewhere.
Oddly enough, it seemed as if only Emerson was going to depart Stamford Bridge this summer. This was after Frank Lampard and Maurizio Sarri exhausted their efforts trying to push Marcos Alonso out of the door. The Blues reportedly offered Alonso up once again in a deal, this time to Inter Milan. Inter’s financial troubles mean it prioritizes cash only offers and as quickly as he was put on the market, it seemed Alonso was taken off as the club prepared a £100+ million bid for Romelu Lukaku. Still, the news of Alonso’s availability was enough to rattle the Blues supporters.
Many may see Alonso and Emerson in the news regarding departures and immediately begin to panic. After all, Ben Chilwell cannot play in six competitions by himself this season. He won’t have to, even if Chelsea manages to sell both of the men behind him on the depth chart.
Simon Johnson revealed on the most recent edition of the Straight Outta Cobham podcast that the Blues were still prioritizing Jules Kounde, despite turning their attention to Lukaku at the moment. The addition of Kounde, oddly enough, would give Tuchel the flexibility he needs to sell both Alonso and Emerson. The 22-year-old Frenchman would likely split time with Cesar Azpilicueta as the right centerback in Tuchel’s favored 3-4-3. This would free up the captain, who is familiar with both left back and the wingback position, to deputize Chilwell. Tuchel has also shown that he has fallen in love with the idea of moving wide attackers into wingback roles. Callum Hudson-Odoi was the Blues’ starting left wingback against Arsenal with Christian Pulisic opposite him. Both of these men offer temporary solutions to what would seem to be a somewhat sticky situation if both Alonso and Emerson exited.
In all likelihood, Chelsea will roll into the upcoming campaign two-deep in every position on the pitch. This means that one of Alonso or Emerson (likely the former) is destined to remain in SW6. As much fun as it is to dream up funky scenarios, it’s important to remember this is a professional football club, not a video game. The Blues are going to make a lot of sales and send a lot of players on loan over the next couple of weeks ahead of the deadline on August 31. The left wingback spot is one to keep an eye on during this period as both of the back-ups could still fetch a pretty penny.
Who would you like to see behind Chilwell next year? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!