Online Reporter
CHELSEA are the actual champions of the world, despite having not finished in the Premier League’s top two for any of the last eight seasons.
Chelsea are champions of the world, despite having not won a domestic trophy for seven years.
Chelsea are champions of the world, despite the Club World Cup not including the champions of England, Spain or Italy – Liverpool, Barcelona and Napoli.
And despite Chelsea having qualified for this thing by virtue of winning the 2021 Champions League, under the ownership of Roman Abramovich and the leadership of Thomas Tuchel, with an entirely different squad, save for Donald Trump’s new best friend Reece James.
Chelsea might also be champions of Saturn, given that Trump and FIFA overlord Gianni Infantino seemed to present them with a golden replica of that planet after Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Paris St Germain.
The Blues didn’t beat any serious contender at the Club World Cup until that extraordinary demolition of the European champions – playing three clubs from Brazil (losing once), one from Tunisia, one from the MLS, as well as defeating 10-man Benfica in extra-time.
And yet here we are, with Chelsea global champions of the global game and with nobody, not even Chelsea, having the slightest clue what to make of it all.
Does this elevate Chelsea’s owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali to genius level?
Well, the basic business model required to rule the footballing world is now clear and simple – keep signing Brighton’s best players and keep offloading your deadwood on Arsenal.
Five of the starting eleven who thrashed PSG had previously played for Brighton – Robert Sanchez, Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro, as well as Levi Colwill who was loaned to the Seagulls.
The £87million prize money Chelsea earned in the United States should be enough to sign at least two of Kaoru Mitoma, Pervis Estupinan and John Paul van Hecke. Wouldn’t it have been easier and less expensive for Boehly’s crew to have bought Brighton and made them world champions instead?
Meanwhile, Noni Madueke narrowly missed out on being a world champion when he was sent down the waste disposal chute to the Emirates, along with Kepa Arrizabalaga – a route previously travelled by Kai Havertz, Jorginho, Raheem Sterling (loan) as well as Willian, David Luiz and Petr Cech in the late Abramovich era. But are Chelsea really any good? Until Sunday night the answer appeared to be ‘no, not really’.
And yet the hammering of PSG in New York was genuinely brilliant – with Cole Palmer fully re-emerging from his slump with two glorious finishes and an equally sublime assist for Joao Pedro. Palmer was a late, opportunist piece of business when signed from Manchester City two summers ago but is now a Ballon d’Or contender and one of the most compelling and strangely likeable blokes in the game.
The signings of Pedro and Liam Delap will lessen the goalscoring burden on Palmer and presumably lead to loose-cannon Nicolas Jackson heading to Arsenal – which isn’t a new transfer rumour, just an educated guess. – Sun
