Solving the "Experience" problem has never been as difficult as it sounds

The right players are out there, just get the deals done

There’s been a lot of talk of “experience” needed in the squad. It’s important to delve into this because it can become an overused term and lose its meaning.

What do we mean when we say experience? Some mean signing 26/28 year old superstars on 300k a week base salary. Well we did that in both 2021 and 2022 summers and literally all of them failed at Chelsea. Romelu Lukaku, Saul (who was signed over Tchouameni as he was “experienced”, and we all know Tchouameni would have been the better signing), Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, all absolute disasters which cost the club a fortune.

That’s not what I mean when I talk about experience.

The reality Chelsea don’t have a rich benefactor underwriting our losses, allowing us to pay huge base salaries. We have to be smart in how we spend our money, we need a healthy wage structure. Now our captain has agreed to it, its clear its here to stay.

But you can still sign experience and keep within that structure, its just about defining experience properly for me.

My perspective is experience is not about age, it’s about how much football a player has played. How much experience they have in the Premier League. A player who can come in and immediately contribute on the pitch, even in the big games. The other quality I want to see is leadership, character, a fighting spirit. We need players who will show up and put a shift in when things are tough, who’ll never give up, and set an example. Those players win you trophies.

Joao Pedro was only 23 when we signed him, but had 89 games - 3 years - of PL experience, 73 games in the Championship, and had played European football with Brighton. He had enough experience to make the step up, and that’s been proven, he’s been our most successful signing of the season. He’s scored important goals to win games and outside recent games, been pretty consistent.

So what would this kind of player be this summer? Well this site has linked us with Adam Wharton, who although only 24, now has over 2 years of PL experience, has won a trophy with Crystal Palace and played both European and international football. I’d say he’s an example of the more proven quality we need in the squad.

Another player we’ve been linked with is Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa. Another player who now has over 2 years of PL experience, as well as playing in the Championship. He has played Champions League and Europa league football, and of course for England as well. He’s a fighter with a strong mentality.

Both of these players, if signed, would immediately come into the first team and improve us in those positions. There’d not be much of an adaption period and they could perform in the big games in Europe and the PL for us quickly.

At centre back, it does become more difficult to find proven elite quality. But there’s two players who have PL experience who could come in as one of our CB signings (we need two IMO). Jan Paul Van Heycke of Brighton, and Maxene Lacroix from Crystal Palace.

Both are 25 and have played in the PL for several years, both had success with their clubs, both played in Europe before and have leadership qualities. Alternatively, we could go for John Stones on a free as a veteran CB signing with PL and CL experience, alongside a top CB signing.

Other examples of this we could have signed in the past would be Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, both of whom went to Man City and immediately contributed. Marc Guehi added leadership to City as well, as captain of previous club Crystal Palace.

In terms of young players, especially from outside England, Jarrol Hato is a good example of the type of profile who has had experience in domestic and European football at a young age, and been able to adapt. Yes, it took a few months for him to adapt to the English game, but in the last 3-4 months he’s been good for us. Even in the debacle at Everton he was one of our better players, playing at CB.

The thing it’s important to note is that before Chelsea, Hato had played 111 games for Ajax, captained the side and played 25 times in European competition. All before turning 20 years old.

I wouldn’t call him “experienced” but he’s also not a raw, young untested talent. He’s probably the type of young talent we should focus on, because although he’s young, he also has a fair bit of footballing experience at domestic and European level. He also has captaincy experience, having led the Ajax team during his time there.

My view is when we’re signing young talents from abroad, players like Hato, with 100+ games, European experience, and leadership qualities, would also be beneficial to the squad.

So, as you can see, the “experience” issue is actually way more easily solved than many think. You can do it without breaking the wage structure, and in many ways without even deviating much from the age profile we normally look at. I’ve included some examples above but there’s other players we could go for - or could have done in the past - who could fit with this type of profile.

If we can add 3-4 players with this level of experience, as well as leadership qualities, to the squad this summer, it would improve the squad both in terms of quality and mentality. It would jumpstart the quality of the first team and take us up a level fairly quickly. We can still buy the odd raw talent, just balance it out with players who can come in and play straightaway, with good experience and leadership qualities.

The answer has been there all along. We just need to get it done.

The Score