Remember the start of this season, when Chelsea embarked on a new era? Due to a transfer ban, youth-team products such as Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori started getting regular games. And they did ever so well in an exciting start to the campaign.
Abraham excelled on the goalscoring front to earn an England place. Mount became an increasingly important part of Frank Lampard’s starting XI and was also rewarded at international level.
On top, there’s Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Reece James completing a very talented bunch of home-grown products. About time, many said. Chelsea have spent millions down the years on their academy, only to ignore those coming through.
But now, it seems, we’re entering a new era at Stamford Bridge. With the transfer ban lifted and with money in their pocket, Chelsea have decided to splash a bit of cash. Well, quite a lot actually. The signing of Hakim Ziyech from Ajax has now been followed by Timo Werner’s arrival from RB Leipzig.
And it sounds like there’s more to come. Leicester’s Ben Chilwell and Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz have both been linked with the Blues.
It all makes you wonder where this will leave those that have emerged from the ranks. Will Abraham, for instance, still get a regular game next season now that £47.5million has been spent on Werner?
As always, the answer to that lies with the player and the challenge is being set.
It’s an enviable situation for Lampard, who takes charge of his 100th game in management at Villa Park. Hot competition for places is every manager’s dream and the way things are going it won’t be much hotter than at Chelsea.
With that, however, comes pressure and Champions League football must be the bare minimum. Mind you, with everyone on board next season, I can’t see Roman Abramovich settling for that.
