The £100m-rated midfielder had returned from the World Cup to a club in impeccable form. He posted a tweet at the weekend which simply read “6/6”. Borussia Dortmund have not dropped a point since before Jude Bellingham went to Qatar and their sixth consecutive victory came at Werder Bremen on Saturday.
Bellingham may yet become the most expensive footballer ever signed by an English club. For now, however, that distinction rests with Enzo Fernandez. The £107m man searches for a first win in Chelsea colours against Bellingham’s Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park. A selling club host a buying club. An in-form team face an out-of-form one. Chelsea go to Dortmund with the record for spending more over two transfer windows than any other club in footballing history and just two wins in their last 13 games.
It is a decade now since Dortmund, then under Jurgen Klopp, were level after 88 minutes of a Champions League final. It is two years since Chelsea, under the former Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel, were champions of Europe. They began this campaign under Tuchel, losing to Dinamo Zagreb. They now have Graham Potter, have not won a match in a domestic cup competition this season and, should Dortmund overcome them, will be certain to end the campaign without silverware or an appearance in a final for the first time since 2015-16.
Expenditure tends to create expectation as Joe Cole, one of the first flurry of signings after Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003, knows from personal experience. Not this time, he argued. “What the Champions League offers is that nobody outside of Chelsea is expecting Chelsea to do well, the level of expectation is not there, the pressure is not there,” he said. “The performance might rise because there is less anxiety.”
Cole accepts that could appear odd. For 20 years, Chelsea have had a hire-and-fire culture. Now time will provide the acid test if that has changed but the noises from new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital is that Potter’s job is safe. Cole believes that is right.
“I’ve got no problems with Graham Potter, I think he has been fantastic,” the 2008 Champions League finalist said. “I know that might sound absurd because of the league position. Every facet of the club has changed. He wasn’t brought in as an impact manager to come in and crack heads together. He is building something at Chelsea that is going to be successful over the long term.”
The counter-argument is that there has still been too little impact for the calibre of player brought in and level of spending. Chelsea’s two best results of the season have come in the Champions League, home and away victories over AC Milan, but they are only 10th in the Premier League. If Chelsea’s ownership were not renowned for their patience, perhaps their supporters are not either.
“You see what happens on a Saturday and you don’t take into consideration the long-term and the medium-term plan,” Cole said. “Chelsea fans may have to get used to seeing something build and develop and grow organically. It might take more time but ultimately I feel the way they are going, they have put the foundations in to have sustained success.
“You don’t just need great players and throwing in more great players, there needs to be something built and nurtured underneath. That seems the route Chelsea want to go down and that what Graham Potter’s CV has been in his career has been so far.”
Some might say there is little organic about dropping the best part of £600m on players, some seemingly for inflated prices and others already out of the picture to such an extent that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is not even in their Champions League squad. Nor, indeed, was there much long-termism in paying £16m to loan Joao Felix until the end of the season when, with a top-four finish appearing unlikely, the only prospect of a return may come in Europe.
Chelsea’s foundations thus far don’t include a No 9. Meanwhile, the short-term planning was affected by the restrictions that meant they could only add three of their eight January signings to their Champions League squad. Mykhailo Mudryk, Felix and Fernandez got the nod so two starters against West Ham on Saturday – Noni Madueke and the impressive Benoit Badiashile – are ineligible. Potter has to rejig his defence without the Frenchman. “I was very surprised he was left out,” said Cole. “He looks absolutely superb. He looks like he was made to play with Thiago [Silva].”
Yet new additions could add a different dynamic. “These players could be the X-Factor in the Champions League,” Cole said. “If they gel, this Chelsea could be unrecognisable in six weeks’ time, in the league and the Champions League.” But if not, the risk is that this proves to be Chelsea’s last Champions League tie for at least 19 months. The hope for Cole is that they are building a side primed to excel in 2026 or 2027.
“Wait and see how this Chelsea project plays out but it is exciting,” he said. “There is spending money, there is apprehension but I do feel you have to be calm, you have to be patient and let it simmer. Maybe Chelsea have bought all these players now because they were available now and they had to pull the trigger now and it was brave and it was bold and we will find out in three or four years.”
For two decades, that was not the Chelsea way. Tuchel was parachuted in mid-season and won the Champions League four months later. But as Chelsea talk long term now, the short term can offer evidence if those foundations show they actually are building anything.
BT Sport is the exclusive home of the UEFA Champions League. Watch Borussia Dortmund v Chelsea exclusively live on BT Sport 1 on Wednesday 15th February from 7pm. For more info, visit btsport.com
