No you can (and you like to WUM too but don't we all). It's the more recent bunch who seem to get teary eyed at any criticism of their beloved Chelsea. Anyway there's merits to my post. I was quite surprised at the large amount of deadwood that needs clearing and some of the fees you've paid. I think it gets ignored a little as you're quite good at moving players on (something we are now better at ourselves) but it's quite high turnover which is why I prefer to utilise academy players in and around the squad as opposed to expensive filler.
Do you see a shift to that from Chelsea now?
If you want to have a good faith discussion, I'm happy to. If that was actually your intent, then I apologise for jumping down your throat.
For me Chelsea's recent transfer policy has been largely infuriating / inefficient. We've had the best academy for years; instead of buying squad players at inflated fees we should be promoting academy players to receive those minutes whilst pooling those funds to buy genuine world class talent. Among those players you listed, Zappacosta, Emerson, Drinkwater, Batshuayi, & Barkley (though harsh to include him, we'd sell him for far more than 15m at this point) fall into this category. This is largely driven by a win-now mandate & thus an unwillingness to allow for the inconsistency that's the hallmark of every youth player. Fortunately, there seems to be a shift away from that - Lampard is assured of his job, academy players are receiving regular minutes (even at the expense of senior players; e.g. Gilmour vs. Jorginho), & the targets Chelsea have been linked to / purchased already fall into the bracket of world-class (or near enough) and are clearly intended to address specific gaps in the squad.
The other players you listed don't really fit into that category:
- Kovacic doesn't deserve the label of being a bad purchase at all - he offers something unique tactically (statistically the 2nd best dribbler in Europe this season in terms of success rate), and the team's options were constrained by the transfer ban. He was also Chelsea's best player this season prior to the break.
- Kepa is a bizarre case of Chelsea having no options after Courtois stabbed the club in the back at the eleventh hour. He was targeted due to his ability on the ball, with the hope being that he'd grow as a young player & improve on his mediocre shot stopping numbers. Instead, he's been an utter catastrophe and literally the worst keeper in the history of the PL (lowest save % ever recorded). Clearly he needs to go back to Spain; rumours are that Valencia & Ajax are interested in a triple swap with Kepa going to Valencia on a 2 year loan with a conditional purchase option, Cillessen going back to Ajax, and Onana going to Chelsea.
- Jorginho & Bakayoko were purchased to fit specific tactical demands of feisty Italian managers. Of the two, Bakayoko made less sense given the presence of Chalobah & RLC. Had Chelsea been smart then, we still could have sold Matic and gone into the season with Kante / Fabregas / Chalobah / RLC competing for the two midfield spots, then taken the Matic fee + the fees for Drinkwater / Bakayoko and gotten someone like Paulo Dybala who was unsettled by Ronaldo's arrival. Conte's lack of patience & willingness to work with the board, however, made this difficult. Jorginho was far more defensible given his association with Sarri & Sarri's notion that he was more or less indispensible for the system. Ultimately it was a miscalculation; Jorginho isn't capable of coping physically with the grind of the PL on a regular basis. He still retains significant value though and will probably go to Juve for something like €40-45m (even if payments are deferred).
The way that I view academy players is that I don't think they should be accorded special status just because they came through the system. What I want is for them to have a chance to break into the first team so they can compete for starting roles. If they're good enough (e.g. Mount), then they should be picked week in and week out based on merit. If they aren't yet (CHO), then they come off the bench. Ultimately, they allow the club to save huge amounts of money and afford to bring in top top players. For instance, next year I hope we've sold Alonso & Emerson and instead of having to buy two replacements we buy one prime age starter (e.g. Tagliafico / Telles / Digne) and give Tino Anjorin the backup minutes.
United were genuinely excellent at this under SAF; since his departure you've strayed away from this model. That's why I brought up net spend - Chelsea have been far more ruthlessly efficient at cutting ties once it's obvious a player doesn't fit, but United have let them languish on the bench. This not only impacts the transfer budget negatively, it serves to further block opportunities for youth coming through (especially when you have someone like Mourinho, though I'd argue he was merely exacerbating the problem and not the root cause of it).
. I assume Lampard's not been playing Jorginho because of the rumors he wants out.
