Let's be clear, €130m on one player is a mental sum of money, particularly when that player has just six months of European experience to their name.
Chelsea have hit the panic button as their ageing, underperforming squad continues to tumble down the Premier League table, and the solution appears to be a €130m move for Benfica's Enzo Fernandez, who could have been signed for 10% of that fee just six months ago.
If Chelsea were smarter six months ago, they could have signed him then, but that's the problem. The Blues' recruitment hasn't been smart for a while now, with midfield the position to have suffered most.
An issue in the boardroom at Stamford Bridge was Chelsea's view of issues in a literal sense. If they weren't scoring goals, it could only be because of poor attackers. If they were conceding too much, the defenders alone were to blame. What about the midfield, the bit that glues everything together?
Chelsea's passing stats have always been good, as you'd expect in a midfield with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, and for whatever reason, that has been enough to convince the decision-makers that investment in that area of the pitch didn't need to be a priority.
This summer, Chelsea signed a long-term project in Carney Chukwuemeka and a short-term fix in Denis Zakaria, the latter of whom joined on loan with an option to buy 12 months after the same experiment with Saul Niguez failed miserably.
To find the last time Chelsea signed a ready-made midfielder, you need to head back to 2019 for Kovacic's transfer ban-enforced arrival from Real Madrid. So, nearly four years since Chelsea actually recruited a concrete piece for their midfield.
In the years since, Chelsea have signed: six forwards, four centre-backs, two left-backs and two goalkeepers. Aside from the young Chukwuemeka and some stop-gap loans, where is the midfield reinforcement?
Hyper-focus on other issues left Chelsea's midfield high and dry, and we're seeing the results of that now. Jorginho is 31 and approaching the end of his contract. N'Golo Kante is 31, perennially injured and also approaching the end of his contract. Kovacic is a few months away from turning 29. The only real injection has been the return from loan of 22-year-old Conor Gallagher who, for whatever reason, has played a limited role this season.
It's stale, and things have fallen so far downhill that Chelsea can't sit back and watch anymore. They need to act immediately, and in Fernandez, it appears as though they have found their dream target.
Fernandez boasts the skillset Chelsea need. He's a great passer with the sort of risk-taking tendencies needed to make things happen at the highest level, but he also fits into the modern mould of a midfielder because of his willingness to do the dirty work. It's not either/or with Fernandez, it's both - something Chelsea haven't had in a midfielder for years now.
Chelsea's midfield has been imbalanced and underfunded for too long, so much so that they need to take these kinds of risks to get themselves out of this hole before it's too late. The Blues can't afford to let players like Fernandez pass them by, and it appears as if Todd Boehly and the shot-callers recognise that.
In a dream world, the spending shouldn't stop here. Alexis Mac Allister could follow his fellow countryman, and his former boss, to Chelsea, while West Ham's Declan Rice is another perfect example of the sort of signing the club should have made about three years ago.
It's all come too late, but at least it's finally being fixed.
Source : 90min