Graham Potter believes Chelsea's new signings have the potential to transform the club's season – but the Blues head coach accepts there will be very challenging decisions to make as he attempts to keep every member of his bloated first-team squad happy.
Chelsea spent in excess of £300million on an array of players in the January transfer window. And while the likes of Gabriel Slonina, Malo Gusto, Andre Santos and David Datro Fofana were investments for the future, Benoit Badiashile, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Joao Felix and Enzo Fernandez have all been incorporated into the senior set-up.
That has created an immediate headache for Potter and his staff; UEFA restrictions mean just three of the new arrivals can be registered in the squad for the Champions League knockout stage. The decision as to who made the cut had to be taken this afternoon (Thursday).
READ MORE: Every word Graham Potter said on Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea squad decision, James, Chilwell, Fofana
"They’re tough decisions, that’s for sure," admitted the Chelsea head coach ahead of his side's Premier League clash against Fulham. "Each player brings something but we had to make a decision on the overall make-up of the group, the overall make-up of the squad, and look at it in that way. There’s no other way to articulate it, to be honest.
"There are challenges when you’ve got this many players in terms of what role they play because most players want to play, they want to be on the pitch, they want to help the team. When they are not, it is a challenge and it is a challenge for lots of reasons at this football club.
"When you go through a period of transition and the steps we’ve gone through, there are going to be periods when it's tougher than you ideally want – it’s not optimal. I am not complaining about it, it is what it is, and I have to do my best to help support and manage the club. I want to support the club step by step, manage the club, and put the team in a better place than when I arrived."
The final player to arrive in January was Enzo Fernandez. A deal worth a £106.7million – a British transfer record – was officially completed in the final minutes of the window and the Argentine arrived at Cobham on Wednesday to undertake media work and meet the club staff.
That Chelsea paid such a fee for a player with less than a season's experience in European football has been questioned. Yet while Potter appreciates why the discussion is being held among pundits and commentators, he doesn't believe the Blues overpaid to secure a player of Fernandez's quality.
"I can understand it but every transfer is a gamble," he said. "If you look at the market for midfield players – and midfield players that haven’t won the World Cup – you’ll be quoted a lot of money. We’ve got a player with a huge personality; he played in midfield for Argentina who won the World Cup.
"He has attributes that can help him play in any league in the world. He has already played well in the Champions League and we followed him before the World Cup, we knew about him anyway. So we're confident about the personality.
"It’s like anything: he’s still a young person, he’s still a young man coming to this country. You’ve got to adapt to the club. But we’ll help him with that and his personality is one where you think ‘Oh, I’ve got no worries about him'.
"He’s a fighter and I think he understands how fortunate he is. He fights for the team, has courage, is not afraid, and is open-minded. He wants to improve and if you’re playing as the No.6 for Argentina – playing the big games at his age, and with the quality – it’s not easy to have those attributes."
Fernandez could be thrown straight into the starting XI for tomorrow's game against Fulham. The Argentine trained today following his switch, although will not be fully acclimated. But when he is up to speed and integrated alongside Chelsea's other January signings – and key players returning from injury – Potter is optimistic about what can be achieved this term.
"Like I often say, signing players is relatively easy, signing the right ones isn’t. Then we need to align everyone together so we’re all on the same path and all going forward, Potter explained. "There is potential [that the new signings change what is possible] That’s why we’re excited. But at the same time, we also have to respect the fact a team needs to come together, we need to gel, we need to work and go day by day.
"But certainly, there is excitement for that. We’re excited with the players we’ve added, excited for the players returning from injury and when you look at the group it’s a really strong, competitive group."
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