Chelsea sure love to sign young stars before they become top players, and while their strategy has worked out in some cases like with Cole Palmer and Moises Caicedo, it has back fired badly with additions like Axel Disasi and, worst of all, Mykhaylo Mudryk.
The Blues have thrown around a lot of money on these sorts of gambles under Todd Boehly, and while they have built up a strong nucleus with young superstars on the level of Palmer and Estevao Willian, they are still quite a ways off from contending for the Premier League title, disappointing this season.
Enzo Maresca was already sacrificed after openly squabbling with Chelsea when they would not sign the defenders he asked for, and now, finally, Chelsea are going to sign a top center back this winter.
But to the chagrin of the fans, instead of going for a proven option, Chelsea are going to run the risk of landing another Disasi or Wesley Fofana in case they can land the next Levi Colwill.
Chelsea’s new top transfer target at center back is Rennes standout Jeremy Jacquet, who is just 20 years old and the latest and greatest hyped up young center back in French football in the William Saliba or Leny Yoro mold.
The thing is, he is not exactly a young star on the cheap, because Chelsea are already, like with Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo in the midfield market, going have to pay a crazy premium price for him.
According to Fabrizio Romano in his latest report on his YouTube channel, Rennes want evne more money out of Chelsea than they got from Manchester City for top winger prospect Jeremy Doku, treating the center back Jeremy Jacquet like a forward.
Therefore, Fab says that the real transfer request for Jacquet from the Ligue 1 side is even more than initially expected, as, keeping up with the Doku barometer, they now want 70 million euros for Jacquet.
Look, Jacquet is a legit talent and could potentially be a world class center back, but he is definitely not worth anywhere near 70 million euros right now. On the strength of his play, he is probably worth less than half of that right now.
Chelsea are getting extorted by teams, and all the while, fans are not only frustrated by all that Boehly is throwing around on the transfer market, but Jacquet is not going to help the Blues win the Premier League or Champions League for another handful of years, in all likelihood, and Chelsea fans want someone who can win now if they want to spend 70 million euros on a defender.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.