Last summer was a stark reminder of Chelsea’s ability to exploit the market in any transfer window. While most of the clubs were slicing down their budget to recover from the losses they bore in the last financial year, Chelsea were spending like these extraordinary times never existed.

So, the last window resulted into Chelsea having a squad depth, somewhat close to the mighty Manchester City, who are well-known for their overall squad quality. And this is the reason why you may have noticed that despite Chelsea being in a poor form in the middle of the season, their odds were not affected like their form if you have been involved in the sportsbetting Karamba space (or Karamba’s football betting market). The market was still fancying their chances of winning games regardless of they were actually performing on the pitch.

But sky is the limit and Chelsea are not looking to settle for one massive window. They want a better team that not only challenges for the league title but also for the Champions League. Hence, expect more fireworks in the summer of 2021 from the Blues.

So, coming to the heart of the matter, which players would bring the winds of change for this Chelsea team to make them title contenders? Let us see.

Chelsea’s shocking thrashing against West Brom opened their defence, and it was quite apparent this team was far from complete despite the glorious unbeaten run. Even Tuchel’s half-time team talk could not uplift them, and they ended up conceding 3 more goals in the second half. Therefore, this Chelsea team needs a lot of shuffling.

Primarily, Chelsea need to focus on two areas: centre back and striker. Let us start with the bigger issue, which is the centre-back pairing.

Current options

Currently, Chelsea have Thiago Silva, who is 36 right now and Chelsea are likely to let his contract run out. Secondly, there’s Antonio Rudiger. Rudiger seems like a preferred player for the German manager. However, quality-wise, he’s still far away from being the kind of centre back that can win a title for this Chelsea team. Andreas Christensen’s career looks revitalized under the new manager, but yet, if Chelsea want to win titles, he is simply not good enough.

Kurt Zouma is the only centre back in the Chelsea team who could be a starter in a title-winning team. He’s tall, athletic, good at passing the ball, and has an amazing recovery pace—something that is essential for modern-day centre-halves.

So, which players can come in and improve Chelsea? Let’s see.

Jules Kounde

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the transfer market in the last 2 years, this is probably not the first time you’re reading this name. And, of course, not the last time either. The football world is deprived of quality centre backs at the moment. Not to mention the evolution of the game has brought a big change in the profiles of the centre backs. There are two must-have ingredients that every modern-day centre half need to have in order to get a move to a top team: speed and ball-passing ability.

Jules Kounde has both. He’s athletic, pace, fearless and great on the ball. What makes him more interesting is the fact that he’s only 22!

This means he’s not even at his peak yet. Therefore, signing him would mean signing a potentially world-class centre back for at least the next 7 years.

The only catch in this mix is his release clause. If it wasn’t for his £68 million release clause. Manchester City were in the market for a centre back last summer, and the young Frenchman was at the top of their list. They tried negotiating multiple times but never met the hefty release. They ultimately had to move to other options.

Manchester United have also extensively scouted Kounde, and he’s also on their list.

Hence, it’s clear that the man is heavily in demand and there’s a clear indication of real talent.

Other than Kounde, Chelsea could also go for the likes of Pau Torres and Sven Botman. Both the players are left-footed and tall centre-backs. Pau Torres is known for his exquisite passing range and ability to start attacks from the back. While Botman is a physical centre back who might not be the fastest but is great on the ball.

If Chelsea fail to get Kounde because of his release clause, getting either of these two players, who are also young, would not be bad either.

Moving onto the next problem, the striker. But hold on…Chelsea have 3 strikers. Why do they need another?

If you dive deeper into the scene, the striker situation isn’t as clear as it looks on the surface. For starters, Giroud is 34 right now and has clearly left his best years behind him. Funnily, he still scores most of the goals amongst their forwards, but this should rather alarm Chelsea fans and the management how bad Chelsea’s situation is.

Timo Werner was supposed to solve their striker problem, but he seems to have created a problem more than solving it. He misses too many big chances and openly admitted how he feels intimidated by Premier League’s tall centre backs. Tammy Abraham is simply not fancied by the manager, so no discussion about it.

Haaland or Andre Silva

If you go simply by the stats, both Andre Silva and Haaland have scored almost the same number of goals in the league, but Haaland, quite clearly, is a bigger talent, and that’s why all the big clubs are running for his signature in the summer.

Price-wise, Haaland is going to cost 4 times more than Silva, and the kind of agent he has is the reason why a lot of clubs (including Chelsea) might take their hands off him.

Andre Silva could cost somewhere in the range of £36-40 million. He’s far more realistic and easier to obtain due to less competition.

Chelsea don’t need a lot of players to have a title-challenging squad. Just signing the right players for these two positions could easily inspire their team to march towards glory.