The £50 million signing Chelsea must keep at all costs amid mass summer transfer exodus

The Premier League is a cruel mistress. While she may be one of, if not the most exciting and sought-after leagues in the world, she isn’t kind to the players, managers, or clubs who waver from their usual path, whatever that may be.

In-form goalscorers suffering a drought are easily forgotten about, and clubs once dominant going through a dry patch are often left in the dust at the earliest opportunity. When it comes down to the crunch, there is little as unforgiving as some of the deals we see on the transfer window.

Chelsea, who are usually recruitment monsters, are instead caught up in a mass exodus following their nightmare 2022/23 season. The Blues recorded their worst ever finish to a Premier League campaign after settling for 12th place with just 44 points on the board. Their goal return was also up there as one of the worst in the league — Leicester City and Leeds United scored considerably more and they were relegated, for crying out loud.

Despite splashing huge amounts of cash on the likes of Wesley Fofana, Enzo Fernandez, and Mykhailo Mudryk last season alone, it wasn’t enough to keep the Blues in the running with their usual rivals at the top of the table. For everyone involved, it’s been a season to forget and now, key players are slowly peeling themselves away from the club.

The latest to leave is Mason Mount, who has finally put pen to paper with rivals Manchester United and his departure is a pretty poignant one.

Chelsea were desperate to keep hold of their long-term serving midfielder, but even after the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino, nothing could convince the 24-year-old to extend his stay. So, reluctantly and in order to avoid losing him for free next season, the Blues sanctioned his exit.

After 18 years, Mount decided it was “what’s right for me at this moment in my career,” as mentioned in his farewell video. He isn’t the only key player to jump at the chance to move clubs this summer either. Mateo Kovačić and Kai Havertz, Chelsea’s joint-top scorer last season, are just three of the ten departures so far. On that list includes João Félix and Denis Zakaria, who return to their parent clubs after their loan spells, plus N’Golo Kanté, who has moved to Saudi Arabia on a free transfer.

To make matters worse, Hakim Ziyech is also headed for the door, while offers are coming in for Christian Pulisic, Steven Gerrard wants Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Al-Ettifaq, and Callum Hudson-Odoi is also to leave in search for more regular game time. There’s plenty of money to be banked from all these high profile sales but... yikes.

Should all these players depart, that leaves Chelsea with a massively depleted attack and very few experienced players to rely on to find the back of the net. Fingers are being crossed in hope that Mudryk will come good this season, but after the £88.5 million signing contributed just two assists in his debut term in blue, it would be a bold move for Chelsea to place all their eggs in his basket.

Romelu Lukaku is also being elbowed out of the door, which leaves just one man to really rely on, and the Blues must do everything they can to hold onto him. At least while they get out of this rut and re-establish themselves as serious opponents in the Premier League.

Raheem Sterling, despite being 28 years old, will now be viewed as the veteran attacker in this Chelsea side. The rest around him, including recent recruits Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson and Diego Moreira, are all still on the younger side, with the latter only being 18.

While Sterling may have found himself questioning his role with Chelsea at times, he will undoubtedly be called upon this time round to help redeem last season’s horror show. In fact, despite playing less games than Havertz last term, the Englishman had a slightly better return rate (nine goals, four assists) than Arsenal’s new signing (nine goals, one assist).

As one of the most devastating attackers in English football during his time with Manchester City, it’s a huge shame to see Sterling slip under the radar with Chelsea. Even with his stats, he was more often than not overshadowed by Havertz’s efforts.

But Pochettino will have witnessed Sterling at his very best while he managed Tottenham Hotspur and he would be foolish not to utilise the 28-year-old and everything he still has to offer. The £50 million signing’s record at Man City is hugely impressive, especially considering how many attackers Pep Guardiola has had the luxury of choosing between for so many years.

Sterling’s first two seasons after joining from Liverpool were simply him warming up, which is quite the statement to make considering he hit double figures in both goals and assists for the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons across all competitions. But in the following two seasons, that’s when the league really saw what he could do and quite simply, that was scoring goals for fun.

The England international notched a combined 48 goals and 34 assists in the next two terms, before smashing home a whopping 31 goals in the 2019/20 season.

In fact, there was not a single season during his time at Man City where Sterling did not reach double goalscoring figures, which is quite the feature for his CV. This isn’t a long-forgotten version of him either, Sterling still very much has these show-stopping performances in his locker, they just need to be tapped back into.

If Pochettino can re-awaken the beast within and let Sterling be the one of the main focal points of Chelsea’s attack next season, the Blues stand a strong chance of completely redeeming this last campaign. No doubt there will be further summer recruitments, especially if they continue to cash in on big money players, so despite all the Chelsea chaos lately, there may still be light at the end of the tunnel.