Losing Michael Olise is disappointing... but not a disaster

Playing the blame game is counterproductive

Chelsea’s decision to pull out of the race for Michael Olise, has, as expected, resulted in complete meltdowns and rage tweets from a lot of Chelsea twitter. I do my best to not get too emotionally attached to these deals until they happen, and always try to stand back from the raw emotion of it when assessing it all.  I don’t think looking for easy scapegoats is helpful personally, things like this are always very nuanced and more complex than the media suggests.

The first thing to say however, is not getting Olise is very very disappointing. I’m not going to engage in toxic positivity here, the fact is Michael Olise is an elite player and would have been a big difference maker for us. To have hopes built up the way they were and then let down like this is both infuriating and frustrating, and in terms of pure optics, looks really bad for the sporting directors and the club. From a PR perspective it couldn’t look worse. People have a right to be angry.

Many different people, many reliable sources, are saying different things. My assessment is it was a number of issues. I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked for bigger wages than he asked for last year. Also we don’t know the exact details of the release clause, it could easily have been more expensive or complex than publicised, and it also appears several people needed paying off as part of this (which may have been in addition to the fee to Palace). 

I have always supported the reduction of the wage bill, and contracts with lower base salaries with big financial incentives for success on top of this, taking them up higher. It's also been reported in mulitple that our structure allows for wage increases for current players dependent on performance. We had to get this under control, PSR now has real teeth and without Roman pumping in cash, our revenue is not high enough yet to just spend whatever we like. Chelsea needs to be run sustainably, and that means tough choices.

The signings of Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku show you can still sign elite talents even with a wage structure in place. It might cost you some players, but you can’t break it for any individual because ultimately then other players demand more and it gets out of control and can even create division in the ranks. 

Hence, if Olise has asked for higher wages which make him one of our highest earners on top of the clause and other payments, it's a big financial commitment and I don’t blame the club for  being skeptical. The suggestion he didn’t like us talking to other players is regrettable, but no club is going to not talk to other players, it’s responsible when looking at recruitment to work on multiple deals. 

David Ornstein, arguably the most reliable journalist going, reported we made him our best offer. It looks like this wasn’t enough, he asked for more and we couldn’t offer more. People always want a scapegoat, and maybe in the past we’d have just paid it, but like I said, you can’t make exceptions for anyone if you want to build something sustainable. 

Several other important points to note.

Firstly, Olise wasn’t a necessity, he was a luxury. We scored 103 goals last season, and have two world class attackers in Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku, who missed most of last season, who will add goals and assists next season. Jackson got 17 goals and will likely get more next season. Not to mention we’ll likely make two attacking signings this summer, so goals and assists aren’t going to be an issue next season. Solving our defensive problems next year will do as much if not more to get us top 4 next season as improving our attack.

Secondly, whatever criticism you make of our sporting directors - and I have plenty for them, they’ve made some huge mistakes and miscalculations - there’s no doubt they and our current scouts are excellent at spotting talent. The signings of Jackson, Palmer, Gusto, Santos, Paez and Estevao Willian, for me, demonstrate that. There’s plenty of talented players out there, and we can definitely find some big attacking talents to come in and improve us this summer. 

Thirdly, I would make the point we’re only one week into the window. This hasn’t happened on deadline day leaving us short. There’s plenty of time, even before pre-season, to get a couple of attackers and possibly a LB in before pre-season. 

Fourthly, Kendry Paez and Estevao Willian can both play all the positions Olise plays. Paez is a full international, starting and performing for his country regularly alongside Moises Caicedo, at only 17. Medium and long term they fill those positions, starting at first behind Palmer and Nkunku in the pecking order giving them time to develop 

Fifth, it was reported a month or two ago, the Champions League is a tempter for Olise. Bayern have CL football every year, are in a position to win now, and pay a lot more than we do. I don’t blame any player for picking Bayern over Chelsea if those are important metrics for them.

So whilst Olise going to Bayern is frustrating and very annoying, its not the disaster many seem to be calling it as. Its perfectly possible - as we’ve seen at Liverpool - to compete for the PL and CL with a strict wage bill, as Liverpool still do, with only a couple of exceptions, if you have elite scouting, which we do. Maybe it takes a little longer to achieve but it can be achieved and will be more sustainable. 

And finally for those who still think there’s no plan, respectfully, the plan is pretty obvious and has been for a while. Sign the best young talent for relatively low fees and low wages, bring them into Chelsea, and allow them to grow into an elite, consistently successful team together. The ones who make it, you keep, the rest, you sell for profit. This model takes time to build and achieve success, and its dependent on good scouting and good coaching, but that’s the model. 

To be very clear, I’m not interested in toxic positivity. It is clear mistakes have been made regarding the pursuit of Olise - arguably last year even more so than this year. Ironically, last year his wage demands would have been far less than now. But at the same time, he was a bonus signing not a necessity, we have a wage structure to keep in place, the release clause was complex and potentially expensive, and we shouldn’t be held to ransom either by clubs or players. I don’t blame the sporting directors for backing away, if it was for those reasons. 

Chelsea’s project is still in a good place and there will be new signings this summer. We have to just get on with it and back whoever comes in and the new manager.

The Score