How Chelsea’s WORST transfer decision is undermining Maresca progress

Chelsea have had an encouraging start to life under Enzo Maresca but one of their summer transfers will continue to haunt them as one of the worst signings of the season.

The Blues finished sixth under Mauricio Pochettino last season and are fifth after nine games this season, five points and five places better off than this stage last year.

Crucially, Chelsea had only scored 13 goals after nine games last season but this year they have netted 19 times, with only Manchester City grabbing more.

However, while Chelsea seem to have found some attacking cohesion under Maresca, one of their forwards in particular is still yet to find his scoring boots or justify the outlay spent on him during the summer.

The decision to bring Joao Felix back to Stamford Bridge was a curious one, with the former loanee only arriving in order to facilitate Conor Gallagher’s transfer to Atletico Madrid.

The 24-year-old was the club’s second-largest signing of the summer at €52 million (ignoring any implications of Gallagher’s exit) but with just five league appearances, all from the bench, and a solitary goal to his name, Felix’s signing indicates that Chelsea still have a lot to learn off the pitch even if they’re slowly finding their feet on it.

Chelsea harbouring regrets over summer transfer choice

Felix had an underwhelming spell at Chelsea in the second half of the 2022/23 season, with his loan stint producing four goals in 16 appearances, while costing the Blues more than €10m.

The Portuguese international never looked cut out for the physicality of the Premier League, while his fit in Chelsea’s attack was questionable, being too slow for the wing and not imposing enough in front of goal or as a number ten.

Pochettino arrived as Felix returned to Atletico and the ex-Chelsea boss was not keen on turning the forward’s loan into a permanent one, but the arrival of a new manager prompted the club to bring back a player they still thought highly of.

Felix signed after Chelsea failed to seal a deal for Samu Omorodion, who was initially meant to join the club as part of Gallagher’s move to Atletico, with conflicting reasons being given as to why the transfer for the striker collapsed.

But the decision to go for Felix over Omorodion has proven disastrous, not just because of the same issues persisting with the Chelsea man, but also due to how Samu is performing at his new club Porto.

The 20-year-old has scored 11 goals across nine games in all competitions and the €15m fee to bring him to Portugal – subsidised by Atletico retaining a large portion of his transfer rights – now appears to be a bargain.

Felix was given his second start of the season in the Carabao Cup tie at Newcastle this week but he wasted a number of chances and failed to give Maresca any selection headache as Chelsea crashed out the tournament.

While Felix may eventually generate some value to Chelsea, he has yet to show that he can live up to his price tag or display the potential Omorodion has, justifying the belief that his transfer could be one of the club’s worst under Todd Boehly.