Chelsea will likely need to be more of a selling club this summer after failing to secure any sort of European football for next season — not to mention our continuing lack of front-of-shirt sponsorship (even the new home shirt with its giant badge watermarked is practically designed with that gaping void in mind now) — but because we also have to justify the salaries of five sporting directors, we of course also have to have a shortlist of potential acquisitions as well.
May be more of a shortlist of pipedreams.
The Athletic report in their most recent rundown of our situation that we have “at least 10 names” on the that shortlist, with Morgan Rogers specifically called out as a player of interest, just as he was this time last year. Will we more successful this year? Doubtful.
Villa had no desire to deal last year, and considering their excellent season, that stance surely hasn’t changed. And it’s hard to see Rogers wanting to drop down to midtable when he could be playing Champions League football with Villa instead. And it’s not like we’re paying the highest-tier wages these days.
(UPDATE: A follow-up, also from The Athletic, claims that “missing out on Champions League qualification is unlikely to be a major stumbling block”, apparently because our long-term prospects are shinier, or some such.)
The 23-year-old winger matched his career-high with 14 goals in all competitions, including a career-best ten in the league. He has five years left on the extension he signed at the start of the season.
Let’s hope there are more attainable targets among the remaining nine names on the shortlist as we look for one attacking and one defensive signing.
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