Premier League 2017-18: Ranking the transfer windows of all 20 teams
By James Dudko
10. Chelsea
Notable Ins: Alvaro Morata, Antonio Rudiger, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater
Notable Outs: John Terry, Asmir Begovic
Chelsea have enjoyed playing “woe is me” this summer, despite signing four players for big money. Manager Antonio Conte has consistently bemoaned the supposed threadbare nature of his squad.
Conte has relentlessly hammered the message home with quotes like this one, per Simon Johnson of the London Evening Standard:
"If someone is thinking that I can use only 11 players or 13 players,it's impossible.Impossible."Less than 10 hrs to go, no new #cfc buys
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) August 31, 2017
The manager wouldn’t have been in the best of moods after Oxlade-Chamberlain chose Liverpool over the Blues. Chelsea also failed to get a deals for Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater and Everton’s Ross Barkley over the line, with the player turning down the move, per Solhekol.
Even so, Chelsea still managed to give Conte one new signing on the final day. Former Torino right-back Davide Zappacosta joined for £23 million, per ESPN FC’s Liam Twomey.
Meanwhile, Drinkwater is a terrific midfielder, but £35 million is a lot to pay for a squad player likely to struggle for minutes ahead of fellow summer signing Tiemoue Bakayoko, N’Golo Kante and Cesc Fabregas.
Conte may have wanted more, but he’d already been given a trio of new toys earlier in the summer. Striker Alvaro Morata, centre-back Antonio Rudiger and midfield powerhouse Bakayoko all arrived for substantial fees.
Rudiger has so far been brought along slowly, while Bakayoko has battled injury. At least Morata has hit the ground running, per Squawka Football:
Alvaro Morata has now scored 8 headed goals since the start of last season; Andrea Belotti (10) is the only player with more. pic.twitter.com/aT0ZQo1BC7
— Squawka (@Squawka) August 27, 2017
Morata’s fast start to life in England is excellent news for Chelsea amid the ongoing and increasingly bitter exit of Diego Costa. The Blues couldn’t shift their malcontent striker on deadline day, after a proposed move to old club Atletico Madrid was held up by wage demands, per an Evening Standard report from Johnson.
Costa’s future will eventually be sorted, but in the meantime Chelsea still looked well-equipped to compete. Conte may want to tell you otherwise, but last season’s champions did some good business this summer.