It’s fair to say that all is not well at Chelsea Football Club. On their pitch they’re a mess, in the transfer market they’re hit and miss and, in the boardroom, they’re in dire straits. Overall, the club is in need of a major rebuild from top to bottom.
When Roman Abramovich took over the London club in 2003, the vision was to turn the Blues into a European powerhouse in both success and competence. The success bit is relatively undisputed, but their competence can be likened to a joke. Because of the incompetence of the powers that be, Chelsea has now been slapped with a two-window transfer ban.
Here’s what Chelsea’s transfer ban means for the club.
Last week, FIFA sanctioned Chelsea with a two-window transfer ban, for breaching rules in regard to the acquisition of young players. The ban will apply until January 2020 but will not apply to the club’s women or futsal teams. In addition to the ban, the Blues have been fined £460,000 while the FA have also been handed a £390,000 fine for their cooperation in the dealings.
The ruling follows an intensive FIFA investigation into the club’s signing of foreign under-18 players. FIFA claim that they found breaches in 29 of the 92 deals investigated, with Chelsea’s recruitment policy failing to meet the world governing body’s regulations. The Blues have acknowledged the investigation and stated their intent to appeal with immediate effect.
Clearly, something’s not right at the Bridge. You’ve got an owner looking to sell the club as he can’t even step foot in the country. Last season, we saw a title-winning manager in Antonio Conte ultimately fall out with the club due to their recruitment process. At this moment in time, Chelsea football club is not a healthy business to work at or deal with.
So, what does this ban mean for the Blues? In practical terms, Chelsea will be restricted from buying players in the near future, meaning they’ll go through the entirety of next season without being able to strengthen a squad clearly devoid of quality. Before the season, the Blues needed three or four acquisitions to compete for the title, after this season, they’ll need at least six or seven.
When transfers are unavailable, the only alternative is to focus on the current squad and hope on the quick maturity of youth players. Luckily for the Blues, they arguably have the best youth academy in the world. Up until now, not many of those talented individuals have made the leap into first team football at the Bridge.
Currently, the West London club has an astonishing 29 players out on loan, that’s the depth of quality they possess at the academy. Calum Hudson-Odoi has been a prime example of Chelsea’s reluctance to use talented youth, some have compared his ability to Jadon Sancho. Now if a kid as a talented as he can’t get into the first team, what hope is there for the rest? With an ageing and underperforming squad, youth is the only way Chelsea can have any chance of keeping up with the rest next season.
