It’s an absolutely beyond bonkers time, news wise, in the Premier League. Fixture congestion, plus summer transfer window deadline day equals a very overloaded editorial calendar. At no club is this more evident than at Chelsea FC, where they had an extremely busy window overall, which was then topped off by a flurry of deals within the final couple of days.
Therefore we have to condense the team news vs West Ham United and the 2022 Summer Transfer Window Report Card into one article, which we’ll do here.
Chelsea vs West Ham FYIs
Kick: Sat Sept 3, 3pm, Stamford Bridge
Team News Links: West Ham Chelsea
Starting XI Predictions Links: West Ham Chelsea
After Extra Time Podcast: Spotify Apple
Google Result Probability: West Ham 15% Chelsea 64% Draw 21%
Team News
Trevoh Chalobah (knee) and Reece James (virus) missed out in midweek while Ruben Loftus-Cheek was forced out of that upset loss due to a hamstring strain. N’Golo Kante remains out until October but Conor Gallagher hs returned.
Transfer Report Card
Last Minute Shopping
Getting Wesley Fofana ($81.3m) yesterday took Chelsea’s spending over $290 million for the summer. Then they went out on got Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for $12m, and signed Denis Zakaria from Juventus on loan on deadline. It’s a last minute spending spree!
Additions Analysis
Gaga Slonina – Chicago Fire ($10 million) we actually broke this story first! More on that here.
Cesar Casadei Inter Milan ($15 million)
Marc Cucurella – Brighton ($75 million)
Raheem Sterling – Manchester City ($56.3 million)
Kalidou Koulibaly – Napoli ($39.1 million)
Carney Chukwuemeka – Aston Villa ($20 million)
I love the Sterling acquisition and would have loved the Koulibaly pick up too…had they gotten the 2018 version. Fofana and Slonina were great signings too. Overall, this was just basically throwing money all over the place, without any real precise strategy, and just seeing what sticks.
Auba raises all kinds of red flags, due to his Arsenal exit, and I’m still shocked that they moved for him.
A lot of these moves are highly questionable.
Departures Discussion
Hudson-Odoi loan to Bayer Leverkusen.
Time Werner – RB Leipzig ($30 million
Romelu Lukaku – Inter Milan (loan, with $8.1-million loan fee)
Antonio Rudiger – Real Madrid (free transfer)
Andreas Christensen – Barcelona (end of contract)
Danny Drinkwater (end of contract)
Levi Colwill – Brighton (loan)
It’s criminal what they’re doing to Christian Pulisic. He wants to leave, Newcastle United wanted him and Thomas Tuchel won’t play him. Owner Todd Boehly is an American, so why he is letting his own club completely oppress the face and captain of American soccer? WTF?!
More on this in the starting XI prediction.
Summation
There’s a reason Marina Granovskaia, Petr Cech and Bruce Buck all left when Boehly took over for Roman Abramovich. Dude has no idea what he’s doing.
Grade C-
This is being very generous, just because you break the bank, at a club known for breaking the bank, doesn’t mean you bought quality. Overall, a confusing, stupid window, although they did get a couple nice pieces.
2022 Summer Transfer Window Report Cards
Man United Man City Arsenal West Ham Liverpool
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.