There is currently much more conversation around Chelsea’s potential outgoings than their incomings, with the club expected to be very close to breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Some financial experts project Chelsea are currently more than £100m above the £105m permitted loss limit for PSR, requiring them to sell a significant number of players by 30 June in order to comply.
This means there is unlikely to be huge scope for incomings over the summer, especially after the club spent over £1.1bn in the past three transfer windows.
But here are three types of player Chelsea should be pursuing in the summer, with examples of players who could be within their tight budget.
An experienced Premier League centre-back
Chelsea should be looking to replace, or even upgrade on, the likely outgoing Thiago Silva.
Silva has had a great career, but it’s time to go, and his leadership credentials at the club were always limited by him not speaking English.
Experience and leadership are clearly what this Chelsea side have lacked this season. Their brilliantly promising but naive central defensive cohort needs shepherding and organising, and a veteran Premier League centre-back appears the prime candidate to do this.
A leading option for this role would be 32-year-old Lewis Dunk, a childhood Chelsea fan who has long proven he has the quality to play for any Premier League side and who could thrive under Mauricio Pochettino. His passing volume is incredibly high with excellent accuracy, and past that he’s a born leader with extensive experience.
Having only signed a new contract at Brighton last summer, Dunk could be slightly too expensive and talented to fill a role which would largely be non-playing in the long-term, but he is the ideal candidate to do to Chelsea’s squad what James Milner and Adam Lallana do at Brighton.
Another expensive yet excellent option is former Blues academy product Nathan Ake. Ake has blossomed into one of the league’s leading centre-backs at Man City and if he could be persuaded to join the Chelsea project, his Champions League-winning experience would provide this young squad a massive boost.
Perhaps the most realistic player to fill this role could be Everton’s James Tarkowski. Given the Toffees’ financial situation he could well be available for a cut price, he’s a natural leader and would provide the maturity and work ethic to act as the ideal role model for his younger peers.
A veteran forward
This is probably the role Chelsea hoped Raheem Sterling would fulfil, but he’s not quite become the squad leader the Blues had hoped.
Much like the veteran centre-back this squad requires, it needs an older forward to work with the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk, providing both coaching and a daily example.
One player available for free in the summer is 37-year-old Olivier Giroud, who may well be open to a return to Stamford Bridge.
Giroud has still scored 12 Serie A goals this season and would be happy to take a backseat on playing time, while providing something different up front off the bench.
He could be the perfect short-term role model available to help improve Jackson and Mudryk’s finishing and provide necessary experience to guide this Chelsea side towards its potential.
Callum Wilson is another option here, despite his injury issues, having been linked with Chelsea throughout the January window, while despite his relative youth Taiwo Awoniyi could also fill this role if Nottingham Forest were to be relegated.
And Ivan Toney is the star-power choice if Chelsea can afford it, a leader and one of the Premier League’s finest strikers, whose price will drop by the day as he gets closer to his contract expiring in 2025.
Chelsea are now a mid-table side and have been for some time. Fans may still think they’re beyond signing players of Giroud or Tarkowski’s ilk, but they may well be exactly the sort of short-term options needs to aid this squad to achieve their long-term goals.
A midfield leader
There are different ways of interpreting this, but you’ll probably have recognised a pattern by now. Chelsea need older heads in each of the three core outfield positions, and the midfield veteran may well be the most important.
This whole side shows flashes of potential but needs gluing together, and an experienced English-speaking midfielder would be crucial in doing this.
Joe Cole pointed to Toni Kroos as a potential option, and he has just been recalled to the Germany squad at 34, but it is likely his salary would shatter the wage budget Chelsea have worked so hard to bring down, although he is out of contract with Real Madrid this summer.
Following the Giroud theme of former players, Jorginho is also out of contract at Arsenal in the summer and could provide similar guidance to the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, without demanding huge playing time or a massive wage.
And as unpopular as he’s become, Jordan Henderson would tick all the boxes Chelsea are after. He’s still capable, he’s one of the greatest captains of the Premier League era, he’s English-speaking and provides something Chelsea don’t currently have. Attempting to prise him away from Ajax could prove a shrewd move.
Brighton’s Pascal Gross is a versatile option and set-piece specialist who could solve a lot of Chelsea’s current issues.
In terms of more expensive choices, Fulham’s Joao Palhinha would be in contention to start week-in, week-out, which isn’t necessarily something the Blues are after with Caicedo and Fernandez gradually beginning to gel. John McGinn could also be another left-field pick, but Aston Villa are likely to drive a hard bargain to part ways with him.
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