It doesn’t matter how many people you recruited.
The best way to bring about change is ‘recruitment’. By bringing a new face, you can equip weapons that weren’t there before, and by introducing a competitor, you can give tension and motivation to existing players who were loose.
During the last two transfer windows, the team that made the most of this was Chelsea of the English Premier League (EPL). Todd Boelli, the owner of the team, who has been through the first season intact since the takeover, has made changes to all parts to erase the nostalgia of Roman Abramovich. The executives, including director Marina Granovskaia, were completely replaced, and the director was also changed.
The team also did not escape change. Last summer, Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Mark Cucurella, Wesley Popana, etc. were immediately recruited, and nearly 300 billion won was spent on them. Even so, Boelli’s recruitment did not stop. During the winter transfer market, he brought in Enzo Fernandez, breaking the record for the EPL, and spent over 100 billion won to recruit Mikhailo Mudrik. In addition, about 500 billion won was spent on bringing future resources such as David Darro Popana, Noni Madueke, and Benua Badiacil. About 800 billion won was spent in one year.
Chelsea today are quite different from before. In that respect, Boelli’s goal of wanting ‘change’ seemed to have been achieved to some extent.
But it wasn’t a complete success. This is because the recruitment effect is not directly related to ‘grade’. Despite making many changes, Chelsea’s performance this season has been below expectations. It remains in 11th place in the league and has been eliminated from all domestic cup competitions. In the European Football Federation (스포츠토토UEFA) Champions League (UCL), it is up to the quarterfinals, but a tough match is expected as the opponent is Real Madrid. To make matters worse, even Graham Porter, who brought Thomas Tuchel, was sent away without completing the season.
The grades of each recruit are also not good. Enzo is doing a decent job, but considering the transfer fee, it’s not enough. Mudrik is subject to criticism in every game, and the ones he brought over the summer, such as Popana, Koulibaly, Sterling, and Cucurella, were not very helpful to the team. The same was true for Kanye Chuquemeca, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Popana. Dozens have been recruited, but none of them have made a significant impact within Chelsea.
Another club based in the same region, London, had the opposite situation with Chelsea. The main character is Arsenal. Unlike Chelsea, Arsenal haven’t had major squad changes in the two transfer windows. Fewer than 10 players came in during the two transfer windows. Only half of the resources could be utilized as a double main battle.
But these players changed Arsenal. Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko, who entered the summer, played an active role as the ‘core’ of Mikel Arteta’s tactics. Thanks to Jesus’ active movement in the front, he was able to maximize the offensive power of his teammates. Although he did not score as much as expected, this is why Jesus was called ‘Ace’. Zinchenko has shown an impact beyond that of João Cancelo at Manchester City. As a standard inverted wingback, he played a ‘central’ role in Arsenal’s unique build-up.
‘Winter recruit’ Leandro Trossar was also a great help to Arsenal with his outstanding performance. After making his debut in a match against Manchester United, he scored only 1 goal in 5 matches, but recorded 7 assists in 6 league matches. He was a great help in the attack with active movement both in the forefront and on the left and right, and completely filled the vacancy of Jesus. In the last game against Leeds United, he even made a joint goal with Jesus, making the expectation of a ‘synergy’ effect.
Close to 20 players have been recruited, but Chelsea’s squad is full of question marks. Arsenal made a perfect squad with just a few players. It is the recruitment effect of the two clubs that clearly shows that quality is more important than quantity.