Malo Gusto is only 20-years-old and is already becoming one of the most important players in this Chelsea team. He has it all and above all, his attitude and mentality is incredible and is THE key.
The signing of Gusto for me simply MUST prove to be the blueprint for future Chelsea recruitment. I don’t mean his age as such, and you will all know that I truly believe we need to add in more proven and quality experience to balance out this squad and detest the silly U25 rule, but the price point and type of scouting we did to get Gusto in, was VERY smart.
I think they need to now use Gusto as the blueprint to new signings, proving that we don’t need to smash £100m on a single player and we could sign four top quality players like Gusto, who I call smart signings, for the price of one! It just makes too much sense for me and we should utilise the top talent spotters we now have at the club.
His age was a risk, and he may have just been another player who we signed with potential and might of needed time to develop. But the key difference is his attitude, bravery, belief in himself, confidence, and mentality. THOSE are the type of personalities we need to be targeting in this squad, and players like Axel Disasi are also good examples of strong mentalities.
But we don’t want players who can just shout a lot and pat the badge, we need players who do that as well as bring the quality and assets we need. Gusto is a prime example of that and a prime example of the type of signings and players we need to be looking at going forward.
He cost Chelsea £26m, what a bargain that is already proving to be. They moved in ahead of other interested clubs and backed their scouting on him.
Like I’ve said, there are question marks over some of the signings we have made, but players like Gusto, and also Cole Palmer, even though he was a little more expensive but still a fair price, are blueprints for smart recruitment, and we need to do more of this now.
Even I could see the player that Gusto was and had zero doubts over signing him, and I was just as vocal with Palmer. Many doubted both signings, but I just knew that these two would come in and bang, and they did just that. Our talent spotters knew this too, and credit to them there.
This is what we need to concentrate on now moving forward, signing four players for the price of one. We want to sign a new striker, centre back, and a left back this summer, and maybe even a winger and a midfielder. So that’s at least three new signings. I’d much rather see £100m spent on three players, than seeing £100m spent on one player.
We just have to make sure we get our scouting and spotting bang on, and if they are players with top mentalities who fully back themselves as well as having clear and proven quality, regardless of age (young AND old), then I find that much lower risk than players who are confidence players or who come in as clear players with potential rather than proven.
Remember, Gusto had 61 appearances in senior football before arriving at Chelsea. Whilst that isn’t loads, it’s a significant amount which makes a big difference. And it was the same for Palmer, who had even more vital senior apps in the Premier League.
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