COMMENT: Was there a Plan B at Chelsea this summer?
In the bids went over that final weekend of the transfer window. €60 million for Paul Pogba. No? €80 million? What about €80 million plus Oscar?
Forget all the carry on between Jose and Roberto, Bill. What about £30 million for John Stones? No? We can stretch to £ ;34 million...
Then on deadline day, from France, Paris to be exact, amid the shock of Michael Hector taking a medical at Cobham, the news arrives of one Chelsea bid for PSG's Marquinhos. €35 million. But it wasn't enough. Chelsea tried again. €55 million? Still the answer was 'no'.
The money was there. As was the will from Roman Abramovich to spend. It could've been a near €150 million deadline for Chelsea. But focusing only on their A-listers has left Jose Mourinho's hopelessly out of form squad short.
If they can battle their way to January, Chelsea will go back to Bill Kenwright with a FIFTH bid for Stones inside six months. And even if Roberto Martinez protests, £40 million should be enough to convince the Everton chairman to sell - particularly if Ramiro Funes Mori can hit the ground running.
That'll be put an end to any lingering thoughts of trying again for Marquinhos. Give Stones a Brazilian passport and you couldn't split them. The PSG defender can play at right-back, centre-half and in midfield. Blues fans will question why they couldn't simply throw that €55 million at Kenwright to get the Stones deal done. It's a good point. But you fancy Chelsea would justify the extra outlay given Marquinhos' Champions League experience.
What is baffling is why Chelsea believed they could prise the 21 year-old away from PSG. Particularly in the final hours of the summer market - and with French transfer window firmly shut.
PSG simply are no longer a selling club. Unless a player really kicks up a fuss, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the club's president, will not sell. And even then, it's a stretch. Edinson Cavani, Adrien Rabiot and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have all had their moments this year, but they're still PSG players.
Chelsea chose the right target, but the wrong club. It's becoming increasingly rare seeing great players move between Europe's biggest. Just look at David de Gea, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
Chelsea weren't the only offer on the table for Pogba this summer. Barcelona came in early with a cash bid of €80 million - delivered by Ariedo Braida, their Italian technical director (though he's since been sidelined). But Juve were in a strong enough position to say 'no'. And while they were more open to Chelsea's final offer last weekend - which included Oscar - there was no great regret from the board when Pogba turned it down.
Mourinho was desperate for a defensive signing this summer. How desperate? Well, just look at their pursuit of Papy Djilobodji. Or should we say, their non-pursuit. It was actually Waldemar Kita, the Nantes president, who drove the negotiations and pushed to get the deal over the line as Chelsea gave up on Marquinhos.
But where was Plan B for Mourinho and Michael Emenalo, Chelsea's football chief?
Al Khelaifi is a hard nut to crack. So why not Claudio Lotito at Lazio and his young, Dutch centre-half Stefan de Vrij? Or what about Jokin Aperribay, the Real Sociedad president, and their 24 year-old defender Inigo Martinez? There was even some buzz amongst intermediaries that Jose Gimenez could be available from Atletico Madrid after Diego Godin, courted by Manchester City, had penned new terms a fortnight ago.
All good, young, potentially great centre-halves and tied to clubs which are in no position to turn down the money Abramovich was flashing around Europe last week.
Hector, after his dream deadline day, went back to Reading armed with a five-year Chelsea contract. What Andreas Christensen or Tomas Kalas make of it is anyone's guess. But it is a deal that does actually make sense.
Hector is London born and Chelsea through-and-through. If he can step up his development over the next year, having the 22 year-old as part of the Blues' locker room would be invaluable to Mourinho. With Frank Lampard gone and John Terry edging closer to retirement, that connection between fans and the locker room is becoming all the more tenuous. He may never have played for the club, but Hector knows Chelsea and he knows what it is to be a Blues fan.
But he's one for the future. For the here and now, Chelsea just didn't get it right in those final days of August.
It's not about Chelsea lowering their sights. But they should've chosen better than PSG when trying to find that last minute deal.
INJURY TIME
Guy Hillion is still a massive influence at Chelsea.
The French talent spotter has been with the club for eight years and without him on the ground last week, the deal for Papy Djilobodji would never have been done.
Waldemar Kita, the Nantes president, was in a state of almost panic. Djilobodji had less than a year to run on his contract. He was ready to leave. But his agents were struggling to find their client a club. Fed-up with their antics, Kita took it upon himself to land Djilobodji a deal.
His first call was to Hillion, now perhaps the most high-profile scout in France. Djilobodji was available and Kita would not drive a hard bargain over a fee. In a matter hours a deal was done - with Kita even negotiating Djilobodji's personal terms. There was no middle man fee for Kita. Indeed, he knocked off a couple of million euros from the transfer price to get it over the line.
You hope Djilobodji has put in a call to the Pole to thank him for his efforts. The Nantes chairman still hadn't heard from player nor agent by Thursday.
But none of this would've occurred without the presence of Hillion and the respect he enjoys across French football.
Indeed, tribalfootball.com can reveal Hillion actually turned down an approach from Christian Karembeu, now working for Olympiakos, to become their 'transfers director' earlier this year.
Hillion now regards himself as 'True Blue' and has an ambition of spending the remainder of his talent spotting career with Chelsea.
