A reported £63.5 million as our first transfer action of 2025 seems a slap in the face to Chelsea fans who have watched in desperation as our team has floundered since December. The lack of leadership defensively and goal drought at the other end of the pitch has been the perfect storm for increasing negativity around Stamford Bridge, that now risks staining a campaign that had once looked so positive.
As the end of the season approaches and with it the re-opening of transfer window, these two purchases are troublesome. They do nothing to address the issues in the current side, and imply an undeterred continuation of BlueCo’s under-25 transfer policy into the summer window.
Untimely injuries to Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu have exposed a gaping hole in Chelsea’s offence. Pedro Neto has brought energy and guile as a makeshift striker in their absence, but he is far from a natural and is not a real solution, far from it.
Regardless of injury, Nicolas Jackson divides opinion at the best of times. The jury is out on whether he has the ability to ever fill the boots of a Didier Drogba, or even Olivier Giroud for that matter. Don’t get me wrong, I would love him in the side right now but that does not discount Chelsea being in the market for another striker, as it is clear that we are short in this position.
Our swoop for the 19 and 20 year olds raises a fee that is a stone’s throw, in the contemporary market, from the reported £83.6m release clause written into another Sporting star’s contract: Victor Gyokeres. The Swedish striker has drawn attention from a number of Chelsea’s rivals, which seems justified given his 56 goals in 57 games in Portugal.
Physically he looks ideal for English football and clearly has an eye for goal meaning he will be a marquee signing wherever he does go this Summer. Now, Ruben Amorim has demonstrated that success at Sporting does not automatically translate to the Premier League, and Gyokeres is not the only striker on the market.
Conducting business with Sporting now does not entirely discount future negotiations. Who knows, we could have a full-on raid, make them the Mediterranean Brighton? What this latest transaction does show plainly, is that the higher-ups are resting on their laurels, at least for now.
Quenda won’t join the team until 2026, whilst Essugo, if he is part of the plan at all (rather than being sent to Strasbourg) will compete with, as it stands: Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Lavia, and Dewsbury-Hall. That is also before considering Amougou and Santos; with the former apparently Strasbourg-bound and the latter hopefully joining us properly next season.
So, it’s more young players who are not signed to impact the First XI directly, which is worrying. There are clearly gaps in this team and things will turn sour if they are not filled in the form of an authoritative, proven goalkeeper and a reliable striker before we address anything else.
These transfers do not fill me with hope for the summer window, but we cannot be sure what, or who, lies ahead.