Chelsea want six new players as Todd Boehly becomes front and centre of transfer activity
Despite the perceived transfer activity being low to the general audience, it hasn’t by any means been a quiet window for Chelsea.
Earlier today, the club confirmed that club legend Petr Cech will be stepping down from his duties as Technical and Performance Advisor, joining the backroom exodus which has already seen long-time Director, Marina Granovskaia and Chairman, Bruce Buck leave the club.
Granovskaia and Cech have led Chelsea’s transfer market dealings over the last three years but that is all set to change and quite dramatically, both in terms of approach as well as personnel.
According to Dailymail’s Rob Draper, Chelsea want six new players this summer. New co-owner, Chairman and interim Sporting Director, Todd Boehly is now front and centre of Chelsea’s summer transfer activity and is said to be “living his life on a plane”.
Boehly recently had a meeting with Portuguese ‘super agent’ Jorge Mendes, where the idea of Cristiano Ronaldo moving to Chelsea was discussed. However, the Blues haven’t made any movement on that front, yet. There’s good reason for that since Raheem Sterling and Ousmane Dembele remain the two preferred forward targets and it’s been suggested there’s a good chance that Chelsea sign both.
Matthijs De Ligt has emerged as a potential target, while it appears that Chelsea are lifting their foot off the gas in their pursuit of Sevilla’s Jules Kounde. Now whether that’s a negotiation tactic or a genuine case of shifting focus, we don’t know for certain yet.
Data, Money and Psychology – the new pillars of Chelsea’s recruitment model?
Chelsea are expected to appoint a full-time Sporting Director next year, and Liverpool’s former transfer guru Michael Edwards has been heavily tipped to fill that vacancy.
Boehly himself is an advocate for data-driven decision making and that is all set to reflect on Chelsea’s transfer activity hereon. Edwards – an expert in combining big data and scouting, is seen as a natural fit for Boehly’s vision.
Just like data and money, psychology plays a big part in football negotiations too. Sevilla expect a fee in the region of £56million for Kounde, which will be vital for the Andalusian club’s summer rebuild.
Barcelona is the only other club seriously chasing Kounde, but are not in a position to pay up owing to their financial difficulties. Reportedly, Sevilla have set a July 5 deadline for Chelsea to act on their interest.
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Sevilla, meanwhile, have also promised Kounde that he will definitely be allowed to leave this summer. If Barcelona don’t make any move, that leaves Chelsea with the ball in their court. As the days go by, Sevilla may very well be forced to lower their asking price.
Granovskaia developed quite the reputation for being Chelsea’s “Iron Lady” when it came to negotiations. Now with Boehly in charge of transfers and possibly Edwards down the line, don’t expect the Blues’ way of negotiating to get any softer, despite Granovskaia’s absence.