Chelsea can seem the soap opera where the characters change but the plots reappear. It is a club where, despite the flow of trophies, success is not always the springboard to further glory.
Now, as the Champions League winners are yet to strengthen, it is tempting to cast thoughts back to their last two Premier League title wins. They proved the prelude to miserable, fractious seasons. In both cases, the root of their troubles could be traced back to the transfer market.
In 2015, Jose Mourinho targeted John Stones and Paul Pogba and got, among others, Papy Djilibodji, Michael Hector and Baba Rahman.
In 2017, Antonio Conte wanted Virgil van Dijk, Alexis Sanchez, Leonardo Bonucci, Alex Sandro and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain while ending up with Tiemoue Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Davide Zappacosta, though Antonio Rudiger proved pivotal in the 2021 revival. In attack, Alvaro Morata arrived four years ago, not Romelu Lukaku.
Now Lukaku has another cameo role in a summer saga. Another striking search is going on. Chelsea's 2020-21 was remarkable. Only Fulham and Wolves had a top scorer with fewer league goals than Chelsea; Jorginho's seven all came from the penalty spot.
Chelsea shared the goals around to such an extent that they conquered Europe. But Thomas Tuchel noted in April: “You just need to read the numbers. Our top scorers have six. This is clearly not enough for the demands Chelsea has.”
There is an obvious remedy. Erling Braut Haaland’s 27 league goals was more than the profligate Timo Werner, the injury-hit Kai Havertz, the unwanted Tammy Abraham, the departed Olivier Giroud and the flair players Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech got between them.
Chelsea are one of the few clubs capable of affording the prolific prodigy. They could outbid everyone else and offer £150 million ($204.5m). Equally, some of their rivals are convinced that Borussia Dortmund are not bluffing when they say the Norwegian will stay for another year.
And Tottenham are unlikely to sell local rivals Harry Kane, even without his seeming preference to move to Manchester City, while Lukaku has pledged to remain at Inter Milan. It could leave Chelsea short of an A-list striker.
Danny Ings may be the best of the B-listers available, a stopgap to buy Chelsea time now Giroud is at AC Milan and with Abraham, who was omitted from the Champions League final squad, clearly not in Tuchel’s plans.
Chelsea’s other business — or, in some cases, lack of it — is revealing. They were interested in Achraf Hakimi: that Inter sold the wing-back to Paris Saint-Germain means they do not need to cash in on Lukaku. But it was an indication Tuchel intends to continue with his 3-4-3 formation; with Cesar Azpilicueta rebranded as more of a centre-back, Chelsea want competition for Reece James.
Loaning Billy Gilmour out to Norwich suggests they require a fourth option for a role in the midfield two; Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, back from unsatisfactory loans, seem too attack-minded to qualify while West Ham’s Declan Rice may be too expensive to buy.
The sales of the young defenders Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi are signs Tuchel saw neither as Chelsea’s future. Yet with Andreas Christensen, Rudiger and the veteran Thiago Silva all out of contract in 2022, they may require a radical overhaul next year.
But this summer’s priority is attack. While Werner and Havertz ought to contribute more and recapture their Bundesliga scoring form and while Chelsea’s history should teach them that a bad buy can be worse than no signings, if a deluxe finisher does not arrive, Tuchel will be charged with conjuring more goals to finish higher. Because Chelsea’s Champions League winners registered their lowest Premier League tally of the 21st century.
