Chelsea have not always had the best success in the transfer window, as demonstrated by their tendency to acquire big-money flops as opposed to players who have gone on to achieve greatness in their careers.
The Blues have been busy hoovering up talent in the market since Todd Boehly acquired the club in May 2022, shelling out over £1bn on new players without having the success to show for it.
His transfer dealings and multiple managerial appointments have not achieved the goals he’s set out so far with Chelsea vastly underperforming expectations considering the ludicrous amount of money spent.
Despite hiring a world-class manager in Mauricio Pochettino, the Argentine has been unable to turn the tide and while he’s led the club to a Carabao Cup quarter-final, his side is currently languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
Pochettino’s case hasn’t been helped by the poor hand he’s been dealt, suffering serious injuries to several star players, including big-money summer signings Romeo Lavia and Christopher Nkunku.
Aside from having an over-flowing injury table, the Blues can be disappointed with how the majority of their summer acquisitions have performed.
For instance, striker Nicolas Jackson has only scored twice in the league for the club since making a £31.8m move from Villarreal.
To make matters worse, Chelsea were looking at potentially capturing Julian Alvarez from Manchester City just a few months prior, and the Argentine would have been a huge upgrade on the 22-year-old.
How close Chelsea came to signing Julian Alvarez
Reports from Spain claimed in April that Chelsea and Real Madrid were interested in battling it out for the signature of Alvarez in the summer.
The 23-year-old, who played understudy to the irrepressible Erling Haaland for the majority of last season, was concerned about his limited game time, which opened up the possibility of him departing Manchester.
The report claimed that several top clubs across Europe were alerted about his situation, but it was the Blues who were the most keen on prising him to Stamford Bridge, as they felt the Argentine would have helped revive their fortunes in front of goal.
According to Transfermarkt, Alvarez had a value of £50m at the time and after Chelsea chose not to take their interest any further – and instead signed Jackson in the summer – the former River Plate hitman has seen his value skyrocket to a whopping £130m (€150m), as per Football Transfers, following his exceptional start to the season.
Julian Alvarez's Manchester City statistics
Manchester City acquired Alvarez from Argentinian outfit River Plate for around £14m in January 2022, with the player remaining in his homeland on loan until the summer.
While his arrival was somewhat overshadowed by the phenomenal acquisition of Haaland from Borussia Dortmund, the forward still enjoyed an impressive maiden campaign, scoring 17 goals and supplying five assists from 49 matches across all competitions, starting only 23 of those.
The 23-year-old has since made some huge strides in this campaign that warrant the staggering £130m price tag attached to his head, posting an exceptional seven goals and five assists in 16 appearances.
Where last season City’s Norwegian machine stole the plaudits for his jaw-dropping goal-scoring exploits, this time around, Alvarez is no longer playing understudy and has forged his own identity in Pep Guardiola’s system, with commentator Ally McCoist labelling him as “superb”.
Through his explosive pressing, clever movement into space and ability to craft his own opportunities, the 5 foot 7 metronome has become one of the most dangerous forwards on the planet and those waxing lyrical about his talents have been proven correct.
Man City are a chance-creating machine, possessing a world-class supply line to feed the Argentine, with Alvarez feasting on that quality, ranking in the top 1% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues in the past year for non-penalty goals, top 6% for shots and top 16% for touches in the attacking penalty box, as per FBref.
On the back of his performances this term, Guardiola has labelled him as “almost undroppable” – and that is high praise from someone known for tinkering with his team.
Julian Alvarez's Ballon d'Or ranking
The most prestigious individual accolade anyone can win in world football is the Ballon d’Or as whoever claims this trophy is crowned the best footballer of the past year.
On Monday, the latest ceremony took place, and it was no surprise to see Lionel Messi crowned with his eighth Ballon d’Or trophy following his World Cup heroics with Argentina.
Whilst he didn’t win it, his fellow World Cup-winning compatriot, Alvarez, was recognised for his outstanding performances by placing in seventh position out of the 30 shortlisted candidates for the trophy.
He beat the likes of Harry Kane (19th), Mohamed Salah (11th) as well as City teammates, Ruben Dias (30th), Josko Gvardiol (25th) and Bernardo Silva (9th), while Rodri (5th), Kevin De Bruyne (4th) and Erling Haaland (2nd) finished ahead of him.
#10 Luka Modric
Real Madrid
#9 Bernardo Silva
Manchester City
#8 Victor Osimhen
Napoli
#7 Julian Alvarez
Manchester City
#6 Vinicius Jr
Real Madrid
#5 Rodri
Manchester City
#4 Kevin De Bruyne
Manchester City
#3 Kylian Mbappe
PSG
#2 Erling Haaland
Manchester City
#1 Lionel Messi
Inter Miami
Alvarez can be content with finishing as the most-decorated footballer on the planet for the 2022/23 campaign, having claimed the biggest prize international football has to offer and scooped the treble with Man City.
By contrast, the striker that the Blues ended up with, Jackson, has struggled since making the switch from Spain this summer.
Nicolas Jackson Chelsea statistics
Jackson arrived as a highly-rated striker from Villarreal and was expected to inject the art of goalscoring back to Stamford Bridge, having seen their fortunes dry up in front of goal.
For instance, Kai Havertz finished as the club’s top scorer with seven in the Premier League last term as the Blues slipped to a disappointing 12th-place finish, and the German was sold to Arsenal this summer.
The 22-year-old didn’t have big shoes to fill in that regard but he has flattered to deceive when put through on goal, failing to eject the confidence that an Alvarez would, and has instead been incredibly wasteful.
While he’s still acclimatising to life on English shores, his numbers so far this season make for very grim reading.
With only three goals scored in all competitions, the Senegal international has demonstrated that wastefulness by missing seven big chances in the top flight, recording an xG of 2.23 and a measly goal conversion of 8%, as per Sofascore.
It is normal for any foreign player to need a season to acclimatise and Chelsea will hope that is the case with Jackson before he eventually starts firing them in.
However, on the evidence of Alvarez’s rapid rise to stardom, they should have done everything in their power to prise him to Stamford Bridge this summer.