Today is the 10th of August. Tomorrow night Chelsea play in the UEFA Super Cup, and then on Saturday they kick off their Premier League campaign with a game against Crystal Palace.
If you can’t believe the season is back already… we know how you feel. The final of the European Championships seems like it was just a week ago, and even Chelsea’s Champions League win feels fresh. Some of our most important first team stars, including Mason Mount, Reece James, Jorginho, Ben Chilwell and Emerson Palmieri, have only just returned to training with the team, and won’t be ready for action for a week at least.
So perhaps it’s no wonder that the club are struggling to get into gear in the transfer market. With their first competitive game of the 2021/2022 season tomorrow night, they’ve conducted a few sales, but no purchases – apart from a third choice goalkeeper on a free transfer.
That isn’t to say that aren’t close. If you were to use your Bethard Bonus to back the Blues to lift the Premier League title this season you’d see they’re some way off being favourites for the competition.
Those numbers could shift dramatically if and when the signing of Romelu Lukaku is confirmed this week. The addition of Jules Kounde still looks possible, and could also happen in a matter of days. It’s hard to see either being wrapped up in time for tomorrow night, as was originally hoped, and even the Premier League curtain raiser against Palace is looking doubtful now – but the clock is ticking, and we expect at least two transfer completed by the time the window closes.
Those deals – in particular the signing of proven goal machine Romelu Lukaku to a team that was just a few goals short last season – will swing the numbers heavily in Chelsea’s favour.
Manchester City might still be the bookies’ pick, but we’d be pushing them close at that point. We’ve got a superb first team, a deep squad and a brilliant manager. There’s no reason we should be lagging too far behind City, Liverpool or Manchester United. They have all made significant additions to their squads already this summer, but we’re about to join them.
So if you’re thinking of backing Thomas Tuchel’s Blues to lift the title, do it now, before we see Lukaku (and potentially a couple more players) holding up their new shirts. Once that has happened, expect to see our odds tumbling.
