’s intentions, particularly when the two have been team-mates for less than three weeks.
Only when these highly skilled individuals are put together in a stable environment and coherent system that maximises their best qualities is a gulf created with rival sides that delivers consistent results. This is whyand Liverpool have been the gold standard for the last five years and it is why every top modern coach, Mauricio Pochettino included, is so fond of talking about ‘processes’.
No amount of transfer spending can skip the time needed for coaching, adaptation and development to run their course. This is not the Premier League of 2003, when Roman Abramovich’s deep pockets elevated Chelsea to perennial contender status almost overnight. Progress is a slower burn now, even more so when your recruitment strategy consists of assembling the youngest squad in the division.
Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital believe youth is underrated in football, but it is also by nature relatively untested. Jackson, despite frequently flashing elite talent, is not currently displaying the composure in front of goal that he will likely find with greater experience. Caicedo has the look of a superb midfielder feeling his way in a new team while saddled with a huge price tag.
Boehly and Clearlake have utterly remade every aspect of Chelsea in the space of a little more than a year, driving a squad overhaul unprecedented in its speed and spend. For the last three months in particular, the club has been a transaction machine, buying and selling at a bewildering rate.For the next four months, Chelsea have to become a football team that maximises the talent they have amassed, a cohesive squad of footballers as well as a human investment portfolio.