Chelsea’s Sporting Directors fall at first transfer hurdle

If Clearlake Did Tuesdays, they'd look like this

Tuesday felt like a very Clearlakian day in recent Chelsea history.

And by Clearlakian, we are usually referring to something messy, bizarre and annoying to a large swathe of supporters.

Chelsea fans witnessed in one-day transfers for Mike Maignan & Jamie Gittens either be called off or halted, to then be told Djordje Petrovic will not be travelling to America.

All three of these are different cases with their own backdrops, but they also all reflect a similar theme of incompetence.

Maignan was an “opportunity” for Chelsea in the market, but that opportunity came at a reasonable price and the chance to seriously upgrade an unstable position. Along with adding France’s No.1 & the captain of AC Milan, widely heralded as one of Europe’s better keepers.

For the club that has so liberally splashed for the likes of Joao Felix (£45m), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (£30m), Omari Kellyman (£20m), Axel Disasi (£35m) and Robert Sanchez (£20m), why was this the moment the club’s sporting directors suddenly drew the line?

For the sake of £4-5m, was it a seriously outrageous ask for a player that would walk into the current starting lineup? The copium will be that Maignan isn’t a dead saga this summer and can be revisited.

The player certainly needed little convincing about coming and given this is someone with under 12 months left on his contract, upwards of £20m+ was not an insane ask for a player of such importance.

It was a chance for Paul Winstanley & Laurence Stewart to prove that they could secure older players of high calibre. That their supposedly rigid project had some flexibility and was willing to adjust to buy for today.

Not only have they failed, they have failed in public and to some embarrassment. Leading to what we have become accustomed to now, is the hastily thrown out briefs to try and spin the narrative back in their favour.

These briefs almost always fall flat because they have become predictable, but also possess more plot holes than the recent Doctor Who finale.

You cannot fool fans. No one with a pulse truly believes if you try and sign a new first-choice keeper you are content with your current options. It is basic football logic.

The other excuse given was being unfairly charged by AC Milan for a “Club World Cup tax” due to clubs jumping on this first window to squeeze as much profit from clubs competing in the US.

Both of these defences hilariously fell apart within mere hours of them being reported.

The tax one quickly collapsing as reports emerged that the club were attempting to get a deal for Jamie Gittens over the line before the first Deadline. From chatter of multiple bids to Matt Law reporting the £42m offer was the last rejected, Gittens was left to angrily drive away from Dortmund’s training ground as a move failed to materialize.

Here we have the inverse of the Maignan case, where Chelsea seem to have little restraint in going higher and higher for a player they desire. The clear difference being two-fold, that Gittens is 20-years-old with potential resale value and, of course, has some previous link to Manchester City’s academy.

Going up in price for a decent talent but one that is not attracting the same hype as a Désiré Doué from PSG or Nico Williams will make people question why you aren’t just going for the most expensive options, if your fee is already exceeding £50m?

In both of these cases, you again ask whether the Sporting Directors are capable of operating at a club where the demands are not simply about uncovering talents you intend to sell for big profit?

The intention is to be the big fish. To buy ready made elite talent that gets you over the line. Yes, that requires big investment and serious wages, but that is the sea you are swimming in. Even if Chelsea do not want to pay that for new players, IF they are successful, they will eventually have to pay their current players that too. If not, someone else will.

Which makes the Maignan chase bizarre given what would transpire on Tuesday evening. Matt Law shocked everyone with his exclusive that among others, Petrovic will not be a part of the Club World Cup squad. A stunning omission and one that raises many alarms about his future with the club.

Again, brief time. The reason given was that Chelsea see the tournament as a continuation of 2024/25 so are not including returning loan players.

Except of course, they are.

Andrey Santos will be part of the squad, along with recent additions Liam Delap, Dario Essugo and Mamadou Sarr.

Do they think we are idiots? Who is taken in by these foolish explanations? And from the club perspective, who is willingly putting them out in public before pondering: “does this make any sense?”

These briefs hark back to last summer, when we were told Trevoh Chaloabh was not “technical enough” for Maresca despite the Italian not taking a single training session yet.

Not only does not taking Petrovic weaken your options for the tournament, it again poses the ridiculous repeat of last summer where the Serbian is overlooked for Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen.

Petrovic should have remained as first choice last summer, but at Strasbourg after a summer of him being cast out to the “bomb squad” he excelled, improving his numbers and becoming a core part of a positive campaign under Liam Rosenior.

Like Santos, Petrovic’s return to Chelsea felt like an open goal. At the very least to see how he would do under Enzo Maresca for the very first time.

Even if fans are not taking the CWC seriously, the club are and his lack of inclusion represents something. It is the fear of a potential sale along with the prospect of no serious replacement.

It would be foolish to write off the summer in mid June. That is hyperbole and flippant. However, few can argue Tuesday’s shenanigans did not feel eerily reminiscent of last summer.

I wrote after Wroclaw that Maresca and his players had done their jobs under pressure, it was now on the sporting directors to show a similar capability.

They so far, have fallen at first hurdle. Albeit with the shrewd addition of Delap, the obvious need for higher calibre additions remains in a summer that demands players that are actually going to upgrade the first team, not just maintain the status quo.