Chelsea close to dream Mauricio Pochettino transfer that’s not Moises Caicedo
Chelsea don’t stop, Chelsea won’t stop. Todd Boehly is inevitable.
How do you follow up a season of over £500million ($640m) and a 12th place finish? Go bigger, go better and go harder. The Blues seem to think that the best way for them to rise above their competition is to drain the pool of players and assure their ascendency back to the top table of European football.
They tried everything else, this is probably worth a shot. Recent history says it’s a risk and perhaps not one that will pay off financially but then Liverpool happened and the sprouts of what is actually being mashed together started to show. The rule book that Boehly-Clearlake are reading from say that there is no option but to continue the assault on the market.
This has lead them to pursuing Michael Olise and if seemingly beating Liverpool to both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia wasn’t enough, huge steps have been taken to now getting one over Manchester City. Pep Guardiola raises Mateo Kovacic - that one is probably a draw - and Josko Gvardiol but Olise is the newest name on the list.
With interest from both sides, it is Chelsea that appear to have come out on top here. Reports in France suggest that personal terms have been agreed with the 21-year-old and that he prefers a move to London over Manchester as well. Meanwhile, the Evening Standard say that the club are hopeful of signing off a deal worth around £45million ($57m) with relative ease.
football.london says: After the spend on attackers and more specifically left-footed right-wingers under the age of 22, Olise immediately feels a little ‘because we can’ not ‘because we need.’
READ MORE:Chelsea transfer saga finally comes to an end as confusing Romeo Lavia ‘agreement’ reached
Chelsea have already got Angelo Gabriel, Diego Moreira, NonI Madueke and Omari Hutchinson in that niche category and had to see highly-rated trickster Tudor Mendel-Idowu leave for free over the summer. Partially because of the influx and bloated nature of that area of the pitch, the pathway for an academy player there is no longer clear.
Ian Maatsen played there in pre-season but he’s a left-back, perhaps it’ll be Ben Chiwell there next. Back to Olise though, it’s actually a transfer that in isolation makes plenty of sense. He fits the age bracket perfectly, is a dogged worker off the ball and loves to come inside.
Think Christian Eriksen off the right in Tottenham’s 4-2-3-1, that would be Olise. With Hakim Ziyech out, Olise on his way is a better, younger and more energetic replacement. He isn’t extortionatelty priced compared to some of deals at Stamford Bridge alone this summer and frankly, despite the right-wing overload, only he and Madueke are ready senior options.
It fits Pochettino perfectly and for this price it’s hard to say no.
If Olise makes sense then he’s not the first to be in this position. Kepa Arrizabalaga, after receiving competition from fellow Spaniard Robert Sanchez, has joined Real Madrid on a season-long loan. Although reports are mixed over whether there is an option or even an obligation to buy, the 28-year-old will not be at Stamford Bridge for the 2023/24 campaign.
It follows up his personal best seasonal performance but also comes at a time whereby another new manager and goalkeeping coach - the trusted Toni Jiminez - have arrived at Cobham. Kepa still has two years left on his original contract having signed for £72million ($91m) from Athletic Bilbao in 2018.
His exit now leaves Reece James as the longest-serving player at the club having made his senior debut in 2019. Kepa arrives at Los Blancos as a replacement for former Blues shot-stopper Thibaut Courtois, who suffered a damaging ACL injury on the eve of the La Liga season.
football.london says: Chelsea have done an excellent job of making the most of opportunistic sales this summer. It wasn’t part of the club’s plans to see Kai Havertz leave or Mason Mount but once sizeable offers came in they were simply too good to turn down. Between that pair and Mateo Kovacic they have near enough funded the total rebuild of their midfield. The prices may be exaggerated and over-the-top, but that’s the cost of doing work so publicly and quickly.
When it comes to Kepa, there is very little evidence to suggest that he is a ‘keeper capable of getting a team into the top four, let alone beyond that. The arguement is that Sanchez has literally no proof of being able to do that, but he cost three times less and is now three years younger.
If the Sanchez transfer goes wrong and he isn’t good enough to be a long-term No.1, which is very possible, then Chelsea are paying off very little per year across his contract for a Spain international. The price they paid for him is miserly and can hardly not be value for money, especially if he is the first choice this season.
It has been tough for them to sanction an exit for Kepa across multiple seasons so when a chance comes up like this, and with the Bayern Munich interest as well, it’s just too good to turn down. He isn’t the answer to their problems and loaning him out moves on another player from the equation for now.
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