Pre-season is always about performances, never about results. And even then, there has to be an awareness of what managers are looking for in each individual game: clubs may be at different stages of their physical development, or managers may be working on a specific trick. They are a means to an end. No one should ever read too much into pre-season. And yet, having said that, it is impossible not to watch Chelsea’s pre-season games without a slight twinge of apprehension.
Enzo Maresca’s record as Chelsea manager at the moment is six games, one win. That victory came against Mexican champions Club América, who, four games into the new Mexican season, are ninth. Chelsea have also played the champions of England, Spain, Scotland and Italy in their friendlies, plus Wrexham, who were promoted from League Two last season. It’s a challenging run of fixtures. Against Manchester City, they were 2-0 down within five minutes, the result of a soft penalty and a clumsy back-pass. The 4-2 defeat was perhaps not representative of the pattern of the match. There is some mitigation to be found.
But it’s not just about results. There’s also a pervasive sense of chaos. After the initial splurge following the Clearlake takeover, the £1bn spent on 28 senior players, this was supposed to be the moment when consolidation would begin. They had brought in young players, we were told, so there would be less need for shake-ups as the project progressed. Players would grow into status at the club. And then this summer, nine more players arrived for a fee of £160m, with two more in the pipeline for next season.
An attempt to sign highly regarded 20-year-old striker Samu Omorodion from Atlético fell through when no contract could be agreed, leading to talks about a possible transfer of João Félix. It feels like the behaviour of an addict, desperately chasing the endorphin high of a signing: if a striker from Atlético doesn’t come, why not go for another, even if he has a completely different profile?
There are apparently talks underway to sign Victor Osimhen from Napoli, which would likely mean Romelu Lukaku – still a Chelsea player, remarkably – would head the other way. Lukaku has now spent six seasons on Chelsea’s books across two spells, making 159 league appearances, only 36 of which have been for Chelsea as he has been loaned out to West Brom, Everton, Internazionale and Roma.
The big signing of the summer was Pedro Neto, signed from Wolves for £51m. He is 24 and clearly gifted, a relentless brooder of full-backs, even if there must be some concern about his goalscoring. He is the kind of signing who would have felt perfectly natural for pre-Clearlake Chelsea. But what does his arrival mean for the fleet of wide attackers already at the club? Is it an admission that Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke are not quite where Chelsea would like them to be?
Filip Jørgenson has become the seventh goalkeeper on their books. Omari Kellyman joins the legions of players who can play a striker. Like a bride worrying about the wedding venue, they have swapped Lewis Hall for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. If there is a pattern, it is investment in youth only, presumably with a view to trading in the future. And trading will be essential to meet profit and sustainability regulations. Depreciation on long contracts is a neat accounting trick to allow for short-term spending, but bills have to be paid at some point.
Therefore, Hall, Omari Hutchinson and Ian Maatsen have been sold for a combined £86m, with the sales of Conor Gallagher, who is close to a move to Atletico, and Trevoh Chalobah, who has been linked with Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, likely bringing that figure to around £150m. All five of those players are youth products and therefore represent pure profit; there is no written-off fee to consider. However, the sale of two hotels between different arms of the business suggests that PSR remains a concern; and soon there will be no more youth products to sell.
It’s easy to forget that Chelsea were actually pretty good after Christmas last season, marching towards Europa League qualification and reaching the League Cup final. But then Mauricio Pochettino left by mutual consent, which is normally a euphemism, but he didn’t seem too disappointed to leave the chaos that now includes £100million-plus midfielder Enzo Fernández, who used racist and homophobic chants as he celebrated winning the Copa América.
There are positives for Maresca: Cole Palmer excelled last season; Malo Gusto looked promising; Marc Cucurella, after a poor start, blossomed and had a golden Euro. Christopher Nkunku looks fit after suffering injuries last season. There are good players at Chelsea, lots of them; the question is whether, amid all the rumour, a manager will ever find a pattern for them to play within.
The big disruptors have disrupted, but at some point the disruption must stop.
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This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US’s weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Register here for free. Got a question for Jonathan? Email him at [email protected] and he’ll feature the best answer in a future edition