Koulibaly, Sterling are Signings of Intent from Chelsea
With Raheem Sterling being announced earlier this week as the first signing of the Todd Boehly era at Chelsea and Kalidou Koulibaly on the way as well, Chelsea’s summer is starting to heat up after a slow start. With Romelu Lukaku, Andreas Christensen, and Antonio Rudiger all gone and rumors swirling around others such as Cesar Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso, Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, and Callum Hudson-Odoi, the wheeling and dealing is just getting started. At the beginning of the summer, Boehly and his manager, Thomas Tuchel, knew they not only had to rebuild the defense but also provide attacking reinforcements to breathe life into an offense that proved stagnant at times last season. With Sterling and Koulibaly, they have secured two world-class players in positions of need.
A first look at Sterling in Chelsea colors
Sterling is joining his third top-tier Premier League club, having come up through the Liverpool academy before winning the league four times with Manchester City. With 109 career goals in the league at just 27, Sterling is a proven wide forward who may be directly in the middle of the prime of his career or even still ascending. He likely has at least five more years to offer at the top of his game and immediately becomes Chelsea’s most accomplished and threatening attacking player. The England international’s game grew exponentially under Pep Guardiola in the last six years. He now thrives on creating chances from either wing while being much more composed and comfortable finishing in and around the box. Sterling adds quality, goals, and experience to a Chelsea front line that is crying out for reliability.
On the other end of the pitch, Chelsea is getting another top-level player in Koulibaly. Since signing for Napoli from Genk in 2014, the center back has been an absolute rock in Serie A. The 31-year-old is 6-foot-1, quick, strong, and very comfortable on the ball. Defenders of the quality of Antonio Rudiger are often incredibly difficult to replace, but Chelsea has found one on the same level in Koulibaly. The Senegalese star was also about to take over the armband at Napoli, showing he has fantastic leadership qualities that dominant center backs often need when organizing a defense. Furthermore, center backs usually age well, as seen with Chelsea’s own Thiago Silva, so it would not be surprising if Koulibaly spends many years as a first-choice, world-class defender for Chelsea.
Of course, these two signings are not enough for Chelsea to close the gap between them and the top two of Liverpool and Manchester City. However, don’t expect them just to sit back and be satisfied with the business so far. They still need another starting quality center back, depth for their wing backs, and another midfielder or attacking player, preferably one who could play down the middle. They have been heavily linked with Nathan Ake and Presnel Kimpembe to fill the center back role and Jonathan Clauss at right wing back. Still, the forward targets have mostly been snapped up, with Ousmane Dembele signing a new deal at Barcelona and Raphinha joining him. Christian Nkunku, Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo deals look increasingly more complicated or not ideal for the club.
Kimpembe previously worked with Tuchel at PSG
Kimpembe would be preferable to Ake, as he has more experience being first-choice at a top-level club in PSG, and his best years so far have come with Tuchel as his manager. Either of those center backs would be perfect for the left-sided role in Chelsea’s back three, as Silva and Koulibaly make up the rest of the trio. Clauss would bring experience and cover to the right side, and Chelsea may be able to get away with not signing a midfielder or forward if Connor Gallagher and Armando Broja take the next steps in their development after succeeding on loan last year.
Whatever deals they strike in the next two months, Chelsea is finally up and running in the market with the signings of Sterling and Koulibaly. It is difficult to imagine them topping these deals, but they need to bring in more reinforcements to bring a season-long title challenge back to the bridge. There seems to be a plan in place, but the new ownership group will have plenty of pressure to deliver the big names needed.