Chelsea should have half an eye on the goings on of Newcastle

It certainly looks as though Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool, and Manchester United are going to have some company amongst the rich (and yes, no matter how much Liverpool and United want to pretend they are where they are on merit alone, they are mega rich clubs too). Newcastle’s long and drawn out takeover is imminent. Suddenly, the Toon Army is going to have cash to rival the rest (if not more, depending on how it’s sliced out) and that will have great ramifications for the English game.

But that’s the long term. Even with cash, Newcastle will need a few years to rebuild and restructure before they are amongst the elite of the Premier League. The short term is something to keep an eye on now, particularly in Chelsea’s case.

Former Chelsea managers Frank Lampard and Antonio Conte have both been linked to Newcastle post takeover. Both make sense in their own ways.

Lampard seems like the choice that makes the most short term sense. No matter who is in charge of Newcastle, right now the team is what it is. It won’t change drastically for the rest of the season and even a summer transfer window may not be enough. Lampard, who has been out of the game since his Chelsea sacking, has shown two good traits that would be appealing to Newcastle: the ability to develop talent and the ability to lure in transfers when the time comes.

One can’t separate Mason Mount or Reece James being starters in the first team from Lampard’s decision to give them a chance. Even Christian Pulisic has played his best football under Lampard. Newcastle can’t boast a fantastic amount of young talent, but there is certainly plenty of untapped potential after the Steve Bruce years.

Furthermore, last summer nearly every single signing mentioned Lampard specifically as a reason for coming to Chelsea. Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz, and Ben Chilwell all weren’t short for choices. They chose Chelsea, as did Thiago Silva and Edouard Mendy. Lampard’s “pull” is a real thing that happened and he could just as easily bring that to Newcastle.

But Lampard also makes sense in the short term if the new ownership understands Rome isn’t built in a day. Lampard may not be able to bring Newcastle to the top of the Premier League, but he can close the gap better than most with less resources. After all, he did take one of the weakest Chelsea squads on paper in recent years to top four. In that sense, Lampard’s role would be very similar to Claudio Ranieri’s brief time under Roman Abramovich. Though Jose Mourinho would come in and outshine him, Ranieri still laid the foundations for the juggernaut Chelsea would become.

Conte makes less sense in the short term. While it does feel as though Newcastle’s held themselves and their players back since takeover talks first began years ago, the squad will still require a pretty substantial overhaul to compete for more than Europa League or Conference League. Conte is easily the biggest name currently available and while the notion of a superrich club to build might be appealing, it would be a build that wouldn’t take its final form for several years.

That being said, Conte was interested in Inter for similar reasons. The gap wasn’t nearly as large but it does show he would be okay with building for a bit before looking to win things. He even left Inter over those money issues which seemingly won’t be present for a few years at Newcastle post takeover. If Conte is willing, he’s the type of manager Newcastle could build around to become a megateam on par with Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea.

And all of this comes together at a moment where the mega rich versus the rest is still a very sore spot in the Premier League. The Super League isn’t forgotten but Newcastle would be flipping the script. By the time Chelsea plays them on 30 October, they may be several weeks into a storm of commentary and maybe even protests about the takeover. Like it or not, that will impact the match.

Chelsea’s started to reestablish their foothold at the time of the Premier League after several awkward years, but it will still be worth keeping one eye over their shoulder at the goings on of Newcastle. A new challenger, even if a delayed one, may just push Chelsea to solidify their place at the top sooner rather than later.