The English Premier League starts next weekend.

While that’s all very exciting, someone probably should’ve warned the Chelsea board because they’ve had a very poor summer thus far.

Now that’s not to say that their appointment of Maurizio Sarri is a poor one, far from it, the Blues hierarchy were just extremely slow in bringing the Italian in. Sarri is the type of boss that doesn’t just arrive and carry on from the next guy, he has his own footballing philosophy and that takes time to impart onto his players.

It was obvious to everyone that Chelsea wanted to bin former head coach Antonio Conte and that they wanted to replace him with Napoli manager Sarri. Conte’s criticism of the Chelsea board last summer was the beginning of the end. So how ridiculous is it that the club didn’t sack Antonio until after preseason started? In fact, Conte took the opening training sessions before he was replaced by his fellow Italian!

Now Napoli, who could also see what was happening, had already replaced Maurizio with legendary boss (plus former Chelsea gaffer) Carlo Ancelotti way back in May. As soon as that announcement was made The Blues should’ve brought in Sarri and not get bogged down in negotiations with Napoli supremo Aurelio De Laurentiis.

In yesterday’s Community Shield, you could tell that the Chelsea players weren’t up to speed and were still getting used to their new manager’s ways. You can understand them losing to league champs Manchester City but you’d like to have seen more cohesion within the team.

Bringing in a boss so late is bad enough, but to do it during a World Cup year and when the transfer window shuts early for the first time is almost criminal and it gives Sarri a lot of problems to solve in a very little timeframe.

They have to decide on what to do with the players that might want to leave. Let’s remember that the window slams shut on Thursday this week, so not a lot of time to replace key players.

I seriously doubt they’ll let Eden Hazard leave now. His contact doesn’t end until 2020, so they can at least keep hold of him for another year. He’s far too important a player to sell on the last week of the window as it could prove an impossible task in replacing him.

I also don’t see them sanctioning a move away involving Willian unless they get a player in return, the opportunity to get Anthony Martial might persuade them to do a deal.

Thibaut Courtois‘ situation is different. It seems extremely reckless that Chelsea have allowed his contract to run down to his final year. That means they have a decision to make. Do you say no to the money, say £30m from Real Madrid, and lose him on a free next summer or do you cash in? It could all depend on whether the player pushes for a move, it could be cost productive keeping the goalkeeper at Stamford Bridge if his heart and head are pining for Madrid.

Yet these are huge decisions that should’ve been made at the start of the window, not at the end. But the board have been lazy and now they are scrambling around like headless chickens.

In terms of bringing players in, again it has been an extremely slow and brutal process. Only Jorginho and Rob Green have arrived this summer, and no offence to Green but the fans only care about the italian’s signature and the veteran keeper will be happy to get a chance to sit on the bench.

Now when you consider that Chelsea finished outside of the Champions League positions then you’ve got to say that you’d have expected them to do more business, when it came to recruitment.

Sarri might say that he isn’t overly bothered by the transfer market, he might finally give some of the kids a chance and he may also have faith in those returning from loans but I can’t believe he doesn’t want a few more in the spine of his starting line-up that fit into his own footballing style.

When you look at the other side that finished outside the Top Four, Arsenal, you’ll see that the Gunners have done most of their business early. Getting Unai Emery in May has given the Spaniard time to rebuild his team and get them fully prepared for the upcoming campaign.

If Chelsea blow the start of this campaign, it won’t be down to the manager or even the players. The board’s lack of ambition and their inability to get things done properly and early will be their greatest downfall. They’ve tied one of Maurizio Sarri’s hands behind his back and they want him to win an Olympic gold in swimming and if he doesn’t? Well they will just sack him and go for the next flavour of the month and start the process all over again!

Posted on August 6th, 2018 by scott
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