Chelsea’s wage structure killed deal for world class Bayern Munich attacker – but ended up landing them Cole Palmer | OneFootball

The Daily Telegraph’s Chief Football Writer Sam Wallace has today done an interesting piece on the progress Chelsea are making this season.

It’s an appropriate time for it – the Blues can go top of the league today with a win over Everton at Goodison Park.

He points to an incredible sliding doors moment last summer, which could have changed things dramatically. As he notes, had the FA not charged Lucas Paqueta, the West Ham midfielder would have moved to Man City. That would have given West Ham the money to buy Cole Palmer from City to replace him.

It was a deal that Palmer was willing to accept – his alternative was a loan to Burnley. Meanwhile at Chelsea, a deal for Michael Olise fell through because the then Crystal Palace player “was not prepared to accept the newly structured contracts being offered to young talent at Chelsea.”

We ended up with Palmer – so all’s well that ends well. Even though some will still insist we should have broken the bank for Olise regardless, given he’s a world class player available at a good price.

Chelsea set to increase outgoings as model matures

Enzo Maresca with Cole Palmer and Jadon Sancho in a montage (Photo by The Daily Telegraph)

In terms of the future, Wallace says that Chelsea’s activity is expected to slow down after a flurry of transfer windows which have seen the whole squad refreshed. He notes that “the club expects to sell more than they buy,” which makes sense given there are a lot of players already on the books and more arriving next summer.

The steady stream of outgoings to Strasbourg should continue, and we may see a fair chunk of the current crop of loan players sold off in the next 6 months too. After a crazy wave of acquisition, the model is settling down into its second phase.