Chelsea have not just changed up their transfer strategy this summer – they’ve done a full 180 and headed strongly the other way.
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The last 24 hours have seen Chelsea linked to both Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson.
The Premier League veterans, both closer to 40 than 30, are looking likely to sign for the Blues on free transfers (or for very small fees) in the next few days.
It represents a massive pivot from the existing strategy of signing exclusively young players.
“After years of fairly unswerving focus on youth and potential, executives at Stamford Bridge have thrown themselves into this summer’s drive for experience and maturity, as they seek stabilising presences in the team,” Simon Johnson wrote on the Athletic’s summary of the Blues’ transfer week.
“It is hard to overstate how much of a swing this is away from Chelsea’s previous recruitment strategy.”
Henderson and Welbeck change Chelsea plans
Danny Welbeck of Brighton & Hove Albion warms up prior to the Premier League match
Danny Welbeck (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
A shift towards more experienced signings would have been appreciated. This is a full pivot however. The Blues will go from not having paid a fee for a player over 26 since 2022 to signing two over 35s in a week.
One wonders if this really is the pure admission of failure that it looks from the sporting directors, or if it’s strongly being driven by the new manager.
Amusingly, Xabi Alonso is only 8 years older than Henderson himself.
In other news…
The trip to the other side of the world was always going to be draining, but Chelsea had a few tactics in place to try and mitigate that.
Chelsea are lining up a potentially record breaking deal for an American youngster, the Athletic wrote this week.
Jordan Henderson
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