You could not blame Chelsea fans for feeling jealous about Manchester United’s new stadium plans.
While Chelsea have had no success yet at redeveloping Stamford Bridge, United are set to build a new stadium with a 100,000 capacity.
Stamford Bridge can only currently hold around 40,000 people, so in its current form, it will not be able to hold a candle to what Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS have in store.
As of now, though, Chelsea are still clear of their Premier League rivals in more than one area, and plans for a new stadium have not changed that.
Chelsea have a better squad
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Going into this weekend, Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League table, whereas United are 14th. There is a 15-point difference between the two, and that is largely because the former simply have a superior group of players.
For example, Enzo Maresca can call upon the likes of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, two of the best midfielders in the country.
While Cole Palmer is not in great form presently, he is also one of the top players in the division. Ruben Amorim just does not have the same kind of options at his disposal.
Chelsea have a better manager
Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty Images
On the subject of Amorim, while it may be a little controversial, he is inferior to Maresca at this moment in time.
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Again, controversial because United’s squad is nowhere near as good as Chelsea’s while Amorim did a fantastic job at Sporting Lisbon.
However, Maresca has done some excellent work at Chelsea himself; it would be unfair to just overlook the Blues’ first half of the campaign under him.
Had Chelsea signed another striker last summer and had a more reliable goalkeeper, Maresca probably would have had this side challenging for the title based on what they showed when they were in form. It was the Italian who put that all together in such a short amount of time.
At the end of the day, football is a results business, and while United’s squad is not helping Amorim, the 40-year-old has not got them since arriving in England.
Chelsea have a better structure
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart are probably not the most popular men at Stamford Bridge. But Chelsea’s structure that sees the pair spearhead recruitment as co-sporting directors is better than whatever it is United have in place.
The Blues’ squad is a very young one, possessing the likes of Caicedo, Fernandez, Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke. That already has the makings of a very good spine that will only get better as time goes on.
Winstanley, Stewart and co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields put that together. Some of Chelsea’s transfer business has been very questionable under Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, but it has still been so much better than United’s.
Chelsea’s own stadium plans
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
If Chelsea want to compete against the likes of United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City financially, then they need to increase the capacity at Stamford Bridge or build a new stadium.
Boehly and Co would love something to rival United’s £2bn project, and increasing the size of Stamford Bridge is still an option.
But with little movement, fans should not be expecting a new-look Stamford Bridge any time soon.