Chelsea FC Is Almost In Shambles
Chelsea 2018-19 Europa League Champs
Photo Credit: Sky Sports
The last couple of months have been adventurous to say the least. Chelsea finished 3 place in the Premier League against all odds, beat their arch rival Arsenal in the Europa League final, were given a transfer ban for the mishandling of youth transfers, essentially fired their coach by letting him walk to another top club and lost arguably the most talented player in club history. So yeah, it’s been a bit hectic. But where do the club stand right now and going forward?
Eden Hazard
If you didn’t know, Eden Hazard was the player I was referring to when I said Chelsea lost arguably the most talented player they’ve ever had. While he’s not the best Chelsea player ever(we will get to that later), pure talent wise he definitely makes the case. So Hazard, who is also a top 5 player in the world currently, fulfilled his boyhood dream of going to Real Madrid. The return price for Chelsea was around £130 million. Hazard is probably worth £200+ million but with him entering what would have been the final year of his contract, £130 is a pretty good price. Only problem is we might not be able to spend any of it. As I stated above Chelsea were given a 2 window transfer ban for the upcoming summer and following winter transfer windows. Thus far Chelsea have been unsuccessful in their appeals and with the transfer window closing in less than 2 months, it’s not looking great for that appeal. This means no new players can be bought and most importantly no new players to replace Eden Hazard. If this holds the only new players that can be brought in are those that we had on loan at other clubs. Not great.
Then to make matters even worse, Chelsea FC decided to part ways with Maurizio Sarri. Now if you told me back in February that Sarri would be out as manager I’d be rather happy and not surprised, but considering the way the team finished the season and won the Europa League I was on board to have him as manager heading into the next season. Well it turns out that clubs back in his home country of Italy got wind of the relationship between him and the Chelsea board and the clubs came after him in droves. Juventus, who are the biggest club in Italy, ended up bringing Sarri in as their new manager. Chelsea received around £3 million in compensation which could rise according to Juventus’ performance next season. In the grand scheme of things it’s a very small sum of money and obviously shows that the Chelsea board had no qualms over letting him walk. That brings us to where we currently and apparently Frank Lampard, who just so happens to be the greatest Chelsea player in history in my opinion, is set to be announced anytime. Frank Lampard who is just a few years removed from his playing career and just finished his first year as a manager is already the favorite for the job. Lamps had a great first season with Derby County and nearly guided them to promotion into the Premier League but fell just short in the promotion playoff final. While there is much to be impressed with, I’m not a huge fan of how quickly he is becoming the head coach. I really wanted him to get some quality years under his belt first, but it appears that’s not going to be the case. Ready or not, let’s just throw Frank Lampard into the fire. But there are few people, if any, that can get the Chelsea fan base and players behind him like I believe Lampard will. So maybe that’s what the Chelsea board are going for but’s very doubtful because there is never any rationale behind their decision making. If and when the Lampard appointment is made official I want him to be given time. Take in to account the transfer ban and give him 3 years to see what he can do with the club, we can only hope. But I’ll more than likely be writing a Lampard sacked blog around December.
Frank Lampard
Photo Credit: Evening Standard
Thanny