Despite travelling to the ends of the earth and flashing their pot of gold at almost every forward of considerable quality, Chelsea have been unable to secure their prime summer transfer target.Jose Mourinho’s constant search for a world class forward has been, to say the least, problematic. He has made countless bids for the men he believes will take his side to the next level, and has had either club or player turn him down on each occasion.
Chelsea may have secured the Premiership and League Cup in what was a successful season, but realise that they still fall short of being one of the great sides. Didier Drogba was bought for a massive £24 million (one of the bigger flops of the season), but has not lived up to expectations. Indeed in Abramovich’s two years at the club, Crespo, Drogba and Mutu have all been brought in for top dollar, and failed to provide the goalscoring that is necessary.
Mourinho was in no doubt that a striker was at the top of his shopping list, and indicative of Chelsea’s overall arrogance, probably believed that he could travel to Barcelona, Milan or Turin, slap the money on the table and any striker would hop on the return flight with him.
Mourinho though is finding it a whole lot tougher than that. Chelsea may be the nouveau-riche of the football world, but are finding that cachet and history is a lot harder to come by than millions, or billions, of pounds. Although they are now successful and are making big noises in the background, they are not yet amongst the elite band of clubs. They are not up there with Milan, Barcelona, Madrid and
Manchester United, and thus don’t have that same instinctive pulling power.
Adriano, Shevchenko, Eto’o and now Trezeguet have all been approached by Chelsea, but negotiations have got precisely nowhere. Shevchenko always seemed a pipe dream, because simply why would Shevchenko leave Milan? Aside from a ridiculous twenty minutes against Liverpool, and an inexplicable display against Deportivo the season before, Milan could easily have won the Champions League for three consecutive years. They are without doubt one of the best sides in Europe at the moment, and with Kaka still improving could dominate for the next five years.
Shevchenko is a vital part of the Milan machine, and potentially their only irreplaceable player, so there can’t really be any desire from either side for him to go. Adriano seemed the most likely from almost midway through last year, but again these were mainly rumours, strangely fed by Mourinho himself (surprise-surprise). Ultimately Inter, big spenders down the years, decided that they were simply not going let go of their prize asset.
A recent bid for Trezeguet was turned down by Juventus, no doubt realising the need to cling onto Milan’s coat tails and defend their title. Then there was Samuel Eto’o, a player who seemed annoyed by Chelski for not choosing him last summer. Eto’o has surprised many, myself included, with just how well he has done at Barcelona, he has really fired himself into that top bracket of strikers. Apparently a huge lover of the Spanish lifestyle and let’s say not overly impressed by Chelsea’s behaviour during the Barca-Chelsea Champions League encounters this season.
Which all of course brings us to another point and another way in which Chelsea’s attitude has damaged their approaches. Chelsea’s approaches, tapping up or otherwise have been openly aggressive. This has put clubs off dealing with them, and has made for instance any dream of an approach for Thierry Henry totally out of the question. On top of that Chelsea seem to hold little stock for loyalty. They cannot understand why any player when offered more money would not choose to join them – this is obviously a mistake, and has foiled a potential bid for Fernando Torres, who remains unwaveringly and refreshingly loyal to Atletico Madrid. The flip-side of this is how Chelsea treat their own players.
Kezman is the latest to grumble about his treatment at the club, but the stand out case here is Mutu. Particularly in Italy, Mutu was respected and liked. His treatment by Chelsea was disgraceful. While Mutu obviously has to field the blame for his mistake, the lack of compassion and assistance offered him by Chelsea, who firstly sacked him, then tried to gain compensation from him (
#@$%*), was beyond the pale. Are other players not going to look at that and think, well it’s just not worth it for an extra ten grand a week? If I make one mistake they are going to dump me.
This has all left Chelsea in a difficult position. If they are to build on their success they need a striker, and are on the verge of ordering Crespo to return to the club. How well that will go, if the player just doesn’t want to play there anymore, is anyone’s guess. Crespo is a great player, as proven this year, but his general unhappiness with the English lifestyle was a huge factor behind his troubles in London.
Chelsea may have had the most successful year in their history, they may have money to burn, the hottest managerial property in world football, but things are far from perfect at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea need to re-appraise their attitude, otherwise things are only going to get tougher from here on in. When they needed to improve all positions in was easy to flash the cash, but continuing to modify a winning team is hardest of all - just ask
Sir Alex Ferguson or Wenger.
Like a lottery winner playing at high-society, Chelsea are still to find their place amongst the elite, and receive the mutual respect that they are so desperate for. Until they soften their approach and realise that they are certainly not the biggest thing in football, their transfer struggle may continue.
