Chelsea FC making the same mistakes they are trying to avoid
By Vishnu Raj
Club football may be on hold, but it can’t keep Chelsea away from the news. Player contracts and the draw of the FA Cup mean there is inevitably something about the club in the limelight. With the FIFA World cup group stages close to the finish, the non-world cup players are back at Cobham to prepare for the return.
After exiting the League Cup in the third round, CFC confront the same situation in the FA Cup. They have been drawn to Manchester City once again away. Unsurprisingly most Blues fans have already accepted the defeat. After reaching the final of both the domestic cups last season, the club faces the prospect of exiting on their respective first outing this time.
Meantime, Trevoh Chalobah was rewarded for his solid start to the season with a new contract. But the club hierarchy should ask themselves if seven years is relatively too much or not. Providing such a lengthy period will have an effect on the player’s performance and the perspective fans will have on him.
There were on top of that reports on Mason Mount rejecting the new contract club offered to him. The reports say he is asking for an offer on par with the likes of Raheem Sterling. A player should always demand what’s best for him. But he should also think about whether he deserves it or not.
Sterling was a big-money signing who played a key role in the success Manchester City enjoyed in the past few years. Mount is yet to deliver such consistency or performance for Chelsea. Moreover, in the current season, he has been one of the worst CFC players considering the number of minutes he has received. Just because Sterling has underperformed, Mount does not deserve the same rewards for similar displays.
The players like Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech are starring for the United States and Morocco, respectively. But at Chelsea, they cannot get minutes or starts ahead of players like Mount or Kai Havertz who are continuing their terrible club form at the national level. Not to forget, Pulisic along with Ziyech are among the players club is trying to offload, as per news stories.
The board did a great job in the summer offloading players with high wages from the squad and loan army. By rewarding mediocre performances, Chelsea is in danger of returning to the same problem they are trying to eradicate. The Blues missed out on a gem of a player in Kevin De Bruyne because the manager trusted others. They should not commit the same mistake again.