Pochettino believes Chelsea are 'building something'
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly may be concerned to notice that after smashing another record in the summer transfer window, some of Chelsea’s expensive new signings have not even made their debut yet. More than six weeks after the transfer window shut, the Blues have been trying to get their 11 signings to gel at the club. But that has proved to be a difficult process for Mauricio Pochettino and his staff, with some new additions to the squad yet to feature.
The west London club have seen their fortunes on the pitch improve in recent weeks, with Pochettino’s men enjoying a run of three straight wins in all competitions. Boehly, who took a step back from transfer negotiations this summer, still sanctioned a huge £420million spending spree after raking in over £300m in sales.
Some of their recent acquisitions – notably £40million winger Cole Palmer and £32m striker Nicolas Jackson – were on the scoresheet in the 4-1 victory over Burnley. And the sight of £88m man Mykhaylo Mudryk opening his club account at the 24th attempt against Fulham would have delighted Boehly, considering the efforts he went to just to lure the Ukrainian to the club.
But there are still some players waiting for their chance in the first team, much to Boehly’s frustration. Express Sport looks at the five players still waiting for their Chelsea bow.
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Christopher Nkunku
After sparkling in pre-season and forging an exciting partnership with Jackson, Chelsea fans were salivating at the thought of what the Frenchman could produce in the Premier League.
Boehly’s former technical director Christopher Vivell struck a deal with his old club RB Leipzig in December 2022 to capture Nkunku for a reasonable price of £60m, considering he had scored 58 goals in his last two season in Germany.
But a knee injury just a week before their season opener against Liverpool derailed Pochettino’s plans. Nkunku has been working hard on his rehabilitation after undergoing surgery to fix the issue with his knee and is still expected to be sidelined until December, meaning the 25-year-old won’t be pulling on the Chelsea shirt for a while yet.
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Romeo Lavia
Chelsea fought tooth and nail with Liverpool for the signature of Lavia after paying £58m for the Southampton youngster, with head of recruitment Joe Shields playing an important role in the deal. But the 19-year-old has endured a frustrating time since heading to Stamford Bridge.
Lavia had been left out of the team in order to help the Belgium international improve his match fitness, before he sustained an ankle injury in training. The issue was worse than first thought, however, and Lavia recently suffered a setback in his recovery, keeping him out for at least another month.
Chelsea have been relatively unaffected by Lavia’s absence, with Moises Caicedo slotting in the midfield three with Enzo Fernandez and Conor Gallagher. Still, Pochettino would surely love to have the young midfielder back in training as soon as possible.
Andrey Santos
Boehly will somewhat aggravated with the lack of minutes Santos has been afforded by Nottingham Forest since he joined their Premier League rivals on loan in the summer.
Forest beat a number of clubs from Italy and Spain to bring in the Brazilian, 19, on loan but he is yet to feature for Steve Cooper’s side.
Santos had been earmarked for a bit-part role under Pochettino but he has been reduced to the Under-21s at the City Ground, and Chelsea are unable to recall the Vasco da Gama trainee until January, leaving their £16m purchase in the reserves for now.
Djordje Petrovic
In one of the strangest transfers of the summer, the Blues opted to splash out £14m for New England Revolution’s goalkeeper Petrovic with seemingly no intention to give him any game time.
The 24-year-old has already won two caps playing for his country Serbia and he was a well-established shot-stopper in America’s MLS, yet Petrovic has been left as an unused substitute in every Chelsea game since his arrival.
He has been left out of Carabao Cup matches by Pochettino when it would provide the perfect opportunity to hand his untested goalkeeper some much-needed minutes and his first-team snub remains a mystery to Chelsea fans, with only Pochettino able to provide the answers for leaving him out.
Deivid Washington
At one point in the season, Pochettino might have been tempted to try out 18-year-old Washington, who only made his senior debut for former club Santos in April. At 18, the Brazilian is rated as a big talent after Chelsea were convinced to spend £10m to bring him to the capital and with Jackson suspended, the youngster was their only other striker available at the time.
Instead, Pochettino chose to play Raheem Sterling through the middle. Washington has made the bench in several fixtures this season, but this is largely due to the huge injury list Pochettino has been coping with. The Brazilian starlet has been given game time at Under-21 level, though, and scored on his debut against Manchester City’s Under-21s.
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