Is continued spending necessary for Chelsea?

With the winter window opening in a couple months, the transfer rumour mill is starting to gather pace.

Christopher Nkunku is suspected to be unhappy with his minutes under Enzo Maresca and Chelsea are unhappy with their defensive options, hence the reports on the club looking at possibly signing another centre-back.

As these stories eventually garner more interest, the more likely we are to see exciting young names materialise, but with the Premier League investigations ongoing and the well-established narrative of Chelsea spending big in recent windows, this is where the club should be looking at their academy.

Chelsea’s academy is one of the most well-regarded in world football. It’s well known for producing some of the best young talent across Europe. From John Terry to Reece James, it’s been one of the reasons Chelsea have been so successful, especially from a selling perspective.

We could talk about Callum Hudson-Odoi and how he was considered to be the best player out of Cobham at the time and had an amazing breakout 2018/19 season during Maurizio Sarri’s one-year stint with the Blues. Then there was Tammy Abraham who led the line under Frank Lampard in his first season back at Chelsea as the manager, finishing as the club’s top goal scorer for the 2019/20 season, with 15 non-penalty goals.

The Blues have some intriguing talent waiting in the wings already, for example, Tyrique George has already made his debut and has massively impressed in both, preseason and in the Conference League. Josh Acheampong has looked like an exciting defensive prospect but is caught up in a contract negotiation and has unfortunately been frozen out of first team roles due to that dispute. Kiano Dyer has attracted interest from other European clubs, Sam Rak-Sakyi made his debut against Noah in the Conference League and Shumaira Mheuka has caught plenty of attention while playing well above his age group and making significant strides in his development.

Chelsea do not have a lack of options within their first-team squad, thus the rumours of Nkunku being unsettled. This is where the club could even look to their ‘loan army’ if looking at the academy is too unstable of an option. With Kendry Páez impressing in Ecuador and Estêvão Willian breaking records in Brazil, it’s very likely one of the two will be given time in the first-team to train and learn under Maresca.

There is also the question around the Chelsea midfield with Carney Chukwuemeka not receiving minutes, Enzo Fernandez in and out of the squad, Cesare Casadei’s role still undefined and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall yet to make a serious imprint on this team. The midfield is more likely to have some changes come the summer rather than during the winter window, but nevertheless there is one outstanding candidate playing with Chelsea’s sister club in Strasbourg. Andrey Santos.

A player who impressed in pre-season under Mauricio Pochettino and has gone on to become one of the outstanding young midfielders in Europe. Under Liam Rosenior’s tenure, he has gone on to be in the top five in-form players in the entirety of Ligue 1, starting 10 of Strasbourg’s 11 matches in the league, while also being their top goal scorer with five. Santos is still young but could be a genuine contender in this Chelsea midfield going into the future as he is in the top fourth percentile for tackles won and in the top second percentile for non-penalty goals in comparison to other players in his position in the top five leagues in Europe, according to Fbref.