Willian

Hello,

I think I would speak for a great number of Chelsea fans when I say that, prior to today, I would have been perfectly content to have seen the transfer window close this morning, leaving us with the signings that we have hitherto acquired. Others may remain adamant that acquiring a striker of Rooney’s calibre is imperative if we are to challenge for the title, while I am aware that some still feel uncomfortable with a back line that contains an ageing Terry, capricious Luiz, and not-quite-top-quality Gary Cahill. However, I think it would be unanimously asserted that the Chelsea board and staff have approached this transfer window in a remarkably sensible manner thus far. The signings acquired have been predominantly young, fairly cheap, and all helped to fill a gap of some sort in the squad. Schurrle offered a more pacy, energetic option to our attacking line; Schwarzer is probably the most accomplished reserve goalkeeper in the league, and Van Ginkel seems to have the potential to take Lampard’s place upon his retirement. Thus, I doubt I am alone in feeling like the club have behaved nonsensically today in acquiring Willian for a reported fee of thirty million pounds.

A signing, as written above, should either improve the first-team side, provide necessary cover where none exists, or fill a gaping hole in the side. With these propositions in mind, let us consider the signing of Willian.

Evidence that he would improve the first team is minimal. From a simply qualitative perspective, it seems ludicrous to suggest that WIllian has more ability, experience, or productivity than Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, or Oscar. Mata has featured frequently for the finest international side of a generation, and was one of the Premier League’s finest players last season. His statistics back up his claims to be considered a regular first-team starter – twenty goals, and, according to Wikipedia, a colossal thirty-five assists. Similarly, Eden Hazard is in and around (if not quite there) the same bracket as Neymar in the pantheon of youngsters with the potential to become world class. He also backed up his potential with some impressive goal and assist statistics last season – thirteen goals and a remarkable twenty-five assists. Oscar, too, looks to have gained in stature over the summer and played a crucial part in Brazil’s Confederations Cup triumph (a time when Willian was nowhere to be seen). Thus, in both quantitive and qualitative terms, Willian looks unlikely to provide the necessary attacking figures to improve an already exceptional Chelsea front three.

The notion that he might be necessary for the bench also seems nonsensical. Once the already named players are taken out of the equation, that leaves us looking at Andre Schurrle, Victor Moses, and Kevin de Bruyne, meaning that a high-quality replacement front line is already in place. When one considers that Lampard can also play in an attacking midfield role and that Chelsea have Lucas Piazon and Marko Marin to return from loan deals, the signing of Willian seems even more superfluous. For to sign a benchwarmer for thirty-million pounds is a nonsense, the sort of smoke-and-mirrors signing regularly exhibited by the foremost proponents of transfer madness, Real Madrid. One has become used to seeing Florentino Perez throw exorbitant sums at players seemingly for the sake of it, without any consideration of how they might help form a cohesive, improved side or squad. In the early Chelsea days – think Adrian Mutu, Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, and, hilariously, half a million pounds for Neil Sullivan –  Abramovich did exactly the same, and has done sporadically since then with Torres and Shevchenko. However, Abramovich does seem a little more sensible than Perez, and Chelsea’s fans are nowhere near as strident as the Madristas, so one would hope that such vanity signings would have become a thing of the past at Stamford Bridge.

Readers may cry that I am missing an obvious reason for signing Willian – I may as well take a look at what these might be. The improbable notion that he will improve the first team has been discussed, and can be placed into the background for now. The only other suggestion I have heard is that the signing makes sense, because it deprives Tottenham of a player who would undoubtedly improve their side, necessarily so if Gareth Bale does complete his impending move to Real Madrid. But this again seems a nonsense. To suggest that Tottenham needed to be deprived of Willian implies that Tottenham are to be seen as serious title challengers this season, likely to overcome Chelsea. This may have been vaguely feasible if Bale was not all but certain to leave; there is certainly a formidable look to a side containing Bale, Soldado, Willian, and Dembele. But Bale does seem to be all but departed, and even if Willian were to join Tottenham, their side would still have been considerably weakened. The statistics from Willian’s career to date show no sign that he is anywhere near capable of matching Bale’s goal and assist target, and whatever he may offer creatively in other aspects, he is still likely to fall considerably short of Bale’s raw power, pace, and creativity. Thus, I would safely have wagered that a Bale-deprived Tottenham would still have fallen by the wayside in this season’s transfer race, with or without Willian.

There are also obvious financial implications. The raw sum is quoted at c. £30 million pounds, and his wages are likely to amount to a few million pounds a year, plus bonuses. It does not seem outside the realm of possibility that the deal is likely to cost us around fifty million pounds altogether. This may make sense for a club who stand to profit greatly from an otherwise unlikely Champions League place, but, given Chelsea’s consistent place in the competition, the ostensible financial gains from improved on-pitch performance seem to be negligible. Furthermore, the spectre of Financial Fair Play still hangs over all clubs, ever closer. Last summer’s marquee signings were funded – as is well known – by an improbable Champions League triumph, but I cannot imagine that winning the Europa League offers anything like the same financial rewards. Given Chelsea have made minimal sums from player sales over the summer, this seems to be a transfer that makes as little fiscal sense as it does footballing sense.

Thus, I feel remarkably exasperated with an at best vain and at worst superfluous deal. After a summer of sagacious transfer dealings, today has marked a return to a transfer policy that does nothing to ameliorate the public perception of Chelsea. I may be proved wrong, and Willian may become a regular first-team starter who wreaks havoc in the Premier League. However, all the signs suggest that this is unlikely, and today’s dealings mark a return to a transfer policy redolent of a ten-year-old playing FIFA Ultimate Team.

Jack