60 million pounds. If Anthony Gordon joins Chelsea for the reported figure, he will go down as their fourth most expensive signing in their history, below Romelu Lukaku, Kai Havertz and Kepa Arrizabalaga. That’s only marginally less that they paid for Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante combined.
If a player ever sums up Chelsea’s scattergun signings this summer, Gordon would be the one. Marc Cucurella was seen as an unnecessary luxury, but he has proven himself as one of the best in the Premier League and can operate in two positions across Chelsea’s back five.
Gordon is a talent and arguably Everton’s best player, but the bar isn’t that high at Goodison Park. He’s also joining a club that has an embarrassment of riches in the attacking midfield areas, but no true number nine. Lukaku's return failed miserably and Timo Werner has been returned to RB Leipzig like an unwanted ASOS package, which has left Kai Havertz as the makeshift number nine.
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Against Leeds it didn’t work as Chelsea were outfought in a 3-0 defeat, and the lack of a number nine was always going to bring questions. Now, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang looks likely to join before the end of the window which would give them a forward option, but it means Havertz will drop back to join a long list of players that can play in those two supporting roles.
Mason Mount is a certainty to start almost every game and Raheem Sterling is the big summer signing so is also unlikely to lose his place. Havertz has an abundance of talent and has scored big goals but he will be competing off the bench with Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech, a duo that the club spent £57m and £36m on just two years ago.
The Moroccan could head back to Ajax but is Gordon a major improvement on either of those options? Then we have the English boys at the back of the queue. Ross Barkley is still at Chelsea, with one year left to go on his five-year deal, Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been strangely moulded into a right wing-back and Conor Gallagher would be more effective in one of those front three positions.
All three could make an impact in attacking areas for Chelsea this term from the fringes, yet instead the Blues are investing £60m into a young player that has four Premier League goals to his name, along with three assists, in 52 appearances. He’s an exciting prospect at 21, but that is all. Certainly he isn’t worth the £60m the Blues are willing to pay.
Chelsea have a knack of overspending on English talent too. Barkley is a prime example of a wasted talent, Danny Drinkwater’s arrival was nothing short of crazy and Ben Chilwell can’t stay fit for long enough to prove he was worth the £50m Roman Abramovich spent on him.
Todd Boehly was always going to want to make an impact in his first transfer window, but even Barcelona would be impressed with a transfer strategy that has seen the Stamford Bridge club seemingly take an interest in every professional footballer. Gordon is a decent Premier League footballer, there is no denying that, and he is at an age where he could improve drastically, but history proves that probably won’t happen at Chelsea.
Everton need £60m more than they need Gordon. Chelsea probably do too.
