CHELSEA and Liverpool were the Premier League’s biggest summer spenders – but they are paying the price for not signing a top-class centre-half.
And that is why both teams go into their clash tomorrow at Stamford Bridge with major issues in defence despite splashing out more than £700million between them.
Both Liverpool and Chelsea are counting the cost of not signing a world-class centre-half[/caption]
Few defenders are a match for Guehi[/caption]
At least the Reds tried to bring in a world-class centre-back, only for a £35m deal to sign Crystal Palace star Marc Guehi to collapse late on deadline day.
But the Blues did not make a decisive move for their former Academy member Guehi – or any other proven central defender – despite key man Levi Colwill suffering a serious knee injury in pre-season.
That decision, coupled with Chelsea’s disciplinary problems, means Enzo Maresca’s team will field their SIXTH different centre back pairing in 10 games when they host Liverpool.
Trevoh Chalobah, who partnered Benoit Badiashile in the Champions League win over Benfica, is suspended after his game-changing red card in last weekend’s home defeat by Brighton.
Chalobah has started every Blues game up until now, but with five different players alongside him.
On the one hand, Josh Acheampong, Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana, Jorrel Hato and Badiashile offer Maresca plenty of options.
Yet there are doubts whether they and Chalobah offer the levels of performance, consistency and availability that win you big trophies.
None is a match for Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk or Arsenal’s William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
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Or for Guehi, a 26-year-old England international with four full seasons of Premier League experience.
Fofana has had an injury nightmare since arriving from Leicester three years ago. Both he and Badiashile are feeling their way back to match fitness.
Tosin, set to miss his fifth game in a row tomorrow with a calf problem, is a solid presence on and off the pitch. But you need more than solid to lift the Premier League and Champions League.
Hato cost £37m when he signed from Ajax just before Colwill’s injury, but played mainly as a left back in his final season in Holland.
And the Dutchman is only 19, like Chelsea Academy graduate Acheampong, who has spent much of his career so far as a right back.
When Colwill was ruled out for most of the season, Maresca’s first reaction was to make it clear he wanted a new signing to replace him.
But the message clearly came through from his bosses that it would not be happening.
Instead the Blues focused on bringing in more attacking talent in the shape of Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Buonanotte.
Chelsea’s priorities left the way clear for Liverpool to move for Guehi.
But after winning the battle of wills with Newcastle over Alexander Isak, the Reds found Crystal Palace less willing to play ball.
If Kop bosses had moved earlier in the summer for Guehi, Palace would have had more time to find a replacement for Guehi.
Liverpool saw a £35m deal for Guehi collapse, which looks a sore point with Ibrahima Konate’s poor form[/caption]
Without Levi Colwill Chelsea have looked lightweight at the back with the likes of Trevoh Chalobah[/caption]
But West Ham hijacked the Eagles’ bid to sign Brighton centre back Igor on loan at the 11th hour.
Palace boss Oliver Glasner’s future at Selhurst Park would have been in doubt if they had gone ahead with the sale of Guehi without signing a defender of high enough calibre.
So the Palace captain stayed and duly led his team to a win last weekend that ended the Reds 100 per cent start.
Liverpool’s failure to sign Guehi would be less of an issue if Ibrahima Konate, Van Dijk’s current defensive partner, was not playing so badly.
Some supporters abused Trent Alexander-Arnold last season on the odd occasion when his performance level crashed amid links to a move to Real Madrid.
But Konate has been consistently well below par so far in this campaign as he, like TAA, refuses to sign a new Anfield deal amid interest from Real.
The Frenchman’s form has fallen off a cliff and destabilised Arne Slot’s team as it tries to assimilate all the new signings, including full backs Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong.
Joe Gomez, whose career has been dogged by injury, has started only one game this season, in the League Cup against Southampton and has played just 29 minutes of Premier League football.
Liverpool are unfortunate that summer arrival Giovanni Leoni, the Italian teenage centre back, has suffered an ACL injury, just like Colwill.
Yet few will have much sympathy for the Reds or the Blues after they spent so much in the summer without signing a top-class centre half.
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