It has often been said you need a deep squad with very good quality to be able to deal with both Champions League and Premier League games. This is an issue that could be giving new boss Frank Lampard a headache ahead of next season.
The point is, Chelsea currently don’t have the quality to be able to deal with both Champions League and Premier League games next season, due to the inconsistency shown last season and the transfer ban for the next two windows.
Due to this, Lampard may decide that he wants to prioritise finishing in the top four and maintaining their Champions League status over going far in Europe’s Premier competition.
The centre of defence is the biggest worry for Lampard currently. Right now Chelsea have David Luiz, Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen. However, with Everton said to be in talks with Chelsea over the permanent signing of Zouma, that leaves Luiz, Christensen and Rudiger as Chelsea’s only senior centre-back’s. And after conceding a mammoth 56 goals in all competitions last season, that is a wholly underwhelming trio of options.
In midfield, I think we can all agree Chelsea have more of an issue over quality of players rather than squad depth. Chelsea struggled with goalscoring from midfield last season, as Ross Barkley finished as Chelsea’s highest goalscoring midfielder, getting a meagre five goals. In comparison, Manchester City’s highest scoring midfielder, David Silva scored nine, while fellow midfielder Bernardo Silva also scored 11.
With the exit of Eden Hazard, Chelsea have lost over 50% of their Premier League goals. The Chelsea forwards struggled to contribute to goals last season. In the League last season, Chelsea’s next highest scoring forward after Hazard was Pedro, who finished with just eight goals, half of what the Belgian managed.
As fans we can all agree that Chelsea have big issues next season. The lack of quality in squad depth is a worrying sign, especially with the return of Champions League football. And with there being a transfer ban at the club, the club need to ensure they prioritise one competition over the other as the squad simply doesn’t have the quality to do well in all of them.
