After an exceptionally quiet January, it feels like Chelsea are getting all their ducks in a row for a big summer.
They will have to sell a few players first, but once the books are balanced it’s time to bring in some players – with a striker top of the agenda.
A lot of people can have a of fun making bets on who their team might sign. Bettors know that these things are pretty unpredictable, and that’s why bookmakers love these bets.
Just take a look at last year’s favourites for an example of how hard to predict these things are.
At the start of the summer 2023 transfer window, the favourites to sign for Chelsea by the start of this season were, in descending order, Moises Caicedo, Dusan Vlahovic, Victor Osimhen, Sadio Mane, Neymar, Rasmus Hojland, Harry Kane, James Maddison and Declan Rice.
As we now know, only one of those players (Caicedo) ended up coming to Chelsea at all. Some of them will be back on the list this year. We would expect Osimhen to be bumped up to the top of the list, but even he looks far from likely. There’s so much competition, including reported interest from PSG and other top sides, as well as the eternal lack of proven quality goalscorers in the transfer market.
Even if we do make it to European football, it’s going to be an uphill battle to sign him. So it’s a tricky bet – and this is the favourite we’re talking about!
If you do want to have a wager, your best strategy would be to look at the profile of players these sporting directors these have signed so far, and the positions we’re most in need. You’ll probably have a more profitable time sprinkling a little money on some long shots rather than going for players among the most likely – just look at that list of 9 above for the reasons why.
So really you should be focused on players under 25, strikers, central defenders and maybe left backs, available for a reasonable price and not so established that they won’t consider a club outside European competition.
That doesn’t narrow it down too much – you’ll still have hundreds to pick from. But now we’ve been through a few windows with this ownership, we’re starting to get a sense of the type of players they like. Just keep an eye on our reporting here, and make sure to get your money on nice and early, before the odds come in…
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