Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has new transfer shortlist ‘drawn up for the summer’
According to The Athletic (h/t Daily Mail), Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel is focused on making additions in the summer instead of looking for stop-gap alternatives in the January transfer window. With the transfer window shutting last night, it now looks like the club will look to target players at the end of the season as they look for reinforcements to beef up the squad.
The Blues had a very quiet winter transfer window, not seeing any new faces come through the doors at Stamford Bridge into the senior squad. They however recalled winger Kenedy from his loan spell at Flamengo, cutting short his time in his native Brazil.
Despite a defensive injury crisis, Chelsea made no additions to their side in January. Despite seeing some academy players depart the club this month, the Blues deliberately refused to enter the market and sign players. It would appear that the focus will shift to recruitment in the summer.
Chelsea are currently without first-choice defenders Ben Chilwell and Reece James due to injuries, with the former out for the rest of the season. Apart from injuries, Tuchel is also missing centre-back, Andreas Christensen, following a Covid outbreak. The German has had to make do without several players at different points in the season.
Summer rebuild on the cards
It is reported that the club have identified key targets in the summer for a spending spree and have drawn up a transfer shortlist. So far, it is reported that Sevilla defender Jules Kounde, West Ham United midfielder Declan Rice, and Monaco talent Aurelien Tchouameni are on the club’s wishlist at the end of the season.
They are no doubt quality signings, but it raises the question of why these players were not brought in midway through the season, especially someone like Kounde, who could have eased the club’s defensive worries. The simple answer to this query is that these players command incredibly high price tags, with Rice’s valuation in nine figures.
In the event Chelsea were to sign all their transfer targets in the summer, it could set the club back a whopping £258m. As a result, the club hierarchy decided it would be better to not divert the funds to other players in January and keep the kitty intact for the summer.
Tuchel clearly seems to have a plan in mind with the kind of players he has targeted to bring in at the end of the season, identifying talented defenders and midfielders. Three of our senior defenders are out of contract in the summer with currently no news of a breakthrough in contract negotiations, and our first-choice midfielders in Jorginho and N’golo Kante are on the wrong side of 30.
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Another area that the German boss should possibly consider strengthening is our attack, which has failed to impress so far this term. Our forwards look short of confidence and lack a scoring touch, which is sort of the basic criteria to lead the line for a club of our stature. A downturn in club fortunes was seen towards the end of the last year, where we dropped crucial points by failing to find the back of the net to win us games.
Though splashing more money on forwards may not be something the Chelsea board may be keen on considering the exorbitant amounts they have spent on our current strikers, it might prove necessary to strengthen our defence. A worst-case scenario in the summer could leave us in need of three new centre-backs. How this will impact our plans remain to be seen.