Chelsea's Summer 2024 Plans

What positions do the club need to address and what does that mean for certain members of the squad?

It might feel too early to talk about the summer transfer window but plans will already be in the works, intermediaries are being contacted and strategies are being created as we speak. 

I’m here to evaluate and look for what we need this summer, the profiles we desire, some loanees I want to see return and some permanent and loan departures I’d like to see. 

I’ll caveat that by saying this is all as it stands, there is a long time before the summer window opens and some of this is obviously subject to change. If a fringe player breaks into the side and starts bagging goals then they clearly won’t be on the chopping block come the summer. 

I do only think the squad needs a couple of major upgrades and we shouldn’t be buying huge volumes of players like we have done previously. That strategy was only done to ensure windows like January and the summer can be spent chasing only the best. 

It’s clear from media reports surrounding the club that the three main positions we’re going to be looking at in the near future are left-back, centre-back and striker. 

Many people will be screaming out for a new goalkeeper but I don’t see that happening for two reasons. Firstly, there are not any realistic upgrades currently available on the market and secondly, Sanchez and Petrovic were brought in just a few months ago. Replacing them already would be madness. 

I know I’m in the minority when I say this but I think Sanchez is a very good goalkeeper anyway and isn’t a member of the side that needs upgrading. 

Left-back is a position I’m desperate to see getting an upgrade in the summer. Our current options are Cucurella, Chilwell and Colwill. Levi is a centre-back and he’s one of the best young centre-backs in the world so I don’t consider him to be a fullback at all. Although he’s still very good there, I want to see him play at the heart of the defence more often. 

Cucurella has massively surprised me this season and has been really solid for us but if we want to become the best team in the world then we can do better in my opinion. I’d keep Cucurella around as a backup over Ben Chilwell, however. 

I’m a big fan of Chilwell both as a player and as a man, but I’d be open to selling him if the right offer came in. The truth is, he’s not great as an out-and-out left-back. We all know he’s a flying wingback but I don’t see a world where Mauricio Pochettino plays a back five anytime soon. 

In terms of who we could get to upgrade the left-back position, the obvious answer is Alphonso Davies. Davies is a huge Chelsea fan and looks likely to depart Bayern Munich this summer. He’d be a dream signing but he won’t be cheap and there will be many clubs pursuing him. 

Another slight worry with the Canadian fullback is his injury history. He’s missed a lot of games in the last two years and if you pair him with Reece James as our fullbacks then you have two very injury-prone starters. 

He’d definitely be worth the risk and we know Chelsea are very keen on bringing him to West London. 

Another quick shout for left-back is Valentin Barco. The young Argentine looked set to join Man City over the summer but that seems to have stalled. His stats are just ridiculous for someone so young and he’d be a very ‘Winstanley’ type signing. 

Moving along the defence to centre-back, it has been made clear by reports in the media that we’re still looking to sign a CB. This one confuses me. It feels like we’ve signed two or three centre-backs every window since Boehly took over the club. 

Assuming Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr are not here next season, that still leaves us with Levi Colwill, Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi and Wesley Fofana. 

Four centre-backs aren’t enough, especially with Fofana’s fitness not guaranteed but I personally wouldn’t dip into the market for a centre-back. Instead, I’d simply keep Bashir Humphreys. He’s having a stellar loan at Swansea and showed in pre-season that he’s more than good enough. 

Knowing the club, it’s more likely that he’s sold for ‘pure profit’ for FFP. If that’s the case, one of Marc Guehi or Ousmane Diamonde would be class. It’s a bit of a win-win because I’d be happy with Humphreys or Guehi/Diamonde but I think the smart option would be to keep our young defender. 

We all know that the striker position makes or breaks our chances next season and we’re probably already bored of discussing it. One of Ivan Toney or Victor Osimhen will lead our line come next August I’m sure of it and whoever the club decide to bring in will be a monstrous upgrade. 

Osimhen would love to join Chelsea. He (like Davies) is a childhood Chelsea fan and recently discussed that on a podcast with Chelsea and Nigeria legend John Obi-Mikel. 

I do think Toney is as good as, if not a better fit for the way we play but there are questions over him having not played football in a while, and also questions on Brentford’s asking price. 

Striker, left-back and centre-back are the obvious positions we’re going to look to upgrade but there is also a good chance we look to bring in another right-sided attacker. Michael Olise is still loved by the club even after the bizarre saga over the summer. 

We will move for Olise next summer and if we manage to sign him, that will surely spell the end for Noni Madueke. 

Olise’s hypothetical signing would mean we have these players on the books who are all left-footed right-sided players: 

• Cole Palmer

• Noni Madueke

• Angelo Gabriel

• Michael Olise

• Omari Hutchinson

• Kendry Paez (2025) 

Angelo and Hutchinson will likely get another loan next season (hopefully at PL sides) whilst Paez can’t join until 2025. That means you’d have Palmer, Madueke and Olise at the club and one of them would surely have to leave. 

Chelsea still being interested in Olise shocked me as it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense but one thing the last couple of windows has taught me is expect the unexpected. 

Other departures I’d expect to see next summer are Ugochukwu on loan, Washington on loan and Broja permanently. 

Whatever happens in the summer, I’m sure there will be dramatic twists and shocks throughout. Now our job is to finish as high up the league as possible to give us the best chance of securing our top targets.

This squad rebuild is very close to completion and I can’t wait to see where we are in August. UTC. 

By Will Reyner