Four Biggest Mistakes Chelsea made in January transfer window

Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, Chelsea’s two sporting directors, have faced widespread criticism from fans since their appointment.

After Chelsea’s January transfer window, this is unlikely to alter. Simply said, they committed blunders that supporters will not be pleased with.

Enzo Maresca’s team played on Monday, defeating West Ham United 2-1, taking some attention away from Chelsea’s transfer market.

But now that the game is over, it’s time to look at what Stewart, Winstanley, and the rest of the team did wrong last month and on deadline day.

Joao Felix’s loan move to AC Milan

Chelsea only signed Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid last summer. The Portuguese forward arrived for big money, so the fact that Chelsea have had to loan him out already is quite embarrassing.

Having barely played in the Premier League this season, Felix would have wanted to go. But the 25-year-old is an attacker with a lot of talent and technical quality. Stewart, Winstanley and Maresca have all failed here; Felix should have been retained and utilised more.

Not signing a new striker

While Nicolas Jackson started the campaign well, as it progressed, it became quite clear that Chelsea needed to sign another centre-forward.

Following his failure to net in Chelsea’s victory over West Ham on Monday, Jackson has now gone eight Premier League games without scoring a goal.

Chelsea’s chiefs will argue that the club’s targets were not available, but could they have perhaps gone for Marcus Rashford, who joined Aston Villa on loan?

Rashford can play up front and on the left flank, another area the Blues tried to strengthen when the window was still open. You cannot help but feel that Rashford was a missed opportunity for Chelsea.

Not recalling Andrey Santos

Chelsea also needed to add a midfielder to their first-team squad, one ready to make an immediate impact.

Romeo Lavia keeps getting injured, leaving Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez to play every game.

It made sense to recall Andrey Santos from his loan at Strasbourg, where he is currently performing well. Instead, Chelsea went to Mathis Amougou, a younger and more inexperienced midfielder than Santos, with little guarantee of playing for the Blues’ first team.

Loaning Renato Veiga and Ben Chilwell

Ben Chilwell departed Chelsea to pursue his career. With Renato Veiga also leaving, Marc Cucurella is now Chelsea’s sole left-back.

Chelsea are making life difficult for themselves in the race for the top four. With one major injury to Cucurella, Stewart and Winstanley will face even more criticism.