Chelsea’s assembly of superstars will turn the tables, and light the glory of the Bridge again

Friday night under the lights, Graham Potter led his side out for the Premier League Gameweek 22 curtain raiser with Chelsea fans around the world all hyped to see their much changed and better looking team treat them to a feast.

To their disappoinment, it finished all square and it was even the visitors, who had the better chances of winning it with four shots on goal, one which was from Andreas Pereira, forcing Kepa Arrizabalaga into the biggest save of the night.

Chelsea have decent chances of their own but for Kai Havertz, who appeared was without his scoring boots on the night, they were unable to crown their performance.

However, their best chance of the night fell to young striker, David Datro Fofana, but the Ivorian was unable to find the back of the net even after taking out the goalkeeper as well as a defender.

His goal bound shot was cleared off the line by Team Ream, adding to the frustration of the manager, Graham Potter, Todd Boehly in the stands and Chelsea fanbase world wide as it finished goalless in the London derby match.

However, the disappoinment of the night is only a dark cloud that covers the promising future awaiting the club with the crop of young and exciting talents put together thanks to the recruitments in the last two windows.

Individually, Chelsea have aquired some of the hottest properties in the game and the age is right for them to collectively learn, grow and build a strong understanding to take the club forward.

Many of the new players have contract running until 2030, which gives the club needed time to get the best out of the group and get good value if they decide to end their relationship before the end of the agreement.

From the Goalkeeper area, Kepa Arrizabalaga has had a mixed time at the club but since reclaiming his number one spot between the sticks, arguably anyone has been better than him in the world.

With his individual performances, he has won Chelsea games when they don’t even deserve to win and has earned them points when they could have been blown away by the opponents.

This is no credits to the new owners as Kepa has been in the books before the takeover. However, he will represent a significant part of the set-up under Graham Potter or any other manager going forward.

His performances lately looks much like that of a Goalkeeper worth £71 million and now he is giving Chelsea value for the money paid to Athletic Club in the summer of 2018, when they made him the most expensive Goalkeeper in the history of the game.

Edouard Mendy still ranks very high as one of the best Goalkeepers in the world and reality is, he is only a backup option at Chelsea. Albeit he is not appreciative of the situation, he’ll have to continue to be until the opportunity comes for him to battle Kepa again.

Benoit Badiashile has been a revelation in his first three Chelsea games on the back of his €35 million move from Monaco. He exudes calmness, so much that you’d think he’s been here for a while.

He has come in and settle down nicely and only 21, learning from one of the best ever to do it in Thiago Silva, he couldn’t have come in at a better time from Chelsea’s perspective, though it is bad news for the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly.

Badiashile is much younger and Chelsea really need his presence with Koulibaly very inconsistent since moving from Napoli in the summer. Wesley Fofana has not been lucky with injuries too but once he returns, in him is another quality player, and most importantly, young to help secure the future of the club.

Reece James will have the company of Malo Gusto next season while Ben Chilwell, Marc Cucurella and Lewis Hall occupy the opposite flank not forgetting Trevor Chalobar as another option in the heart of defence.

Chelsea moved Jorginho on and replaced him with Enzo Fernandez and after just 20 minutes into the match against Fulham, it was already clear they have some player in their hands.

Skillful, technical, good presser, great vision for a pass. Well, he might be young but not a newbie, and Chelsea fans seeing him live for the first time will now understand why Todd Boehly was hellbent on signing him and him alone.

Moreso, if you have him playing like he did on his debut in all the games, who will mind if the World Cup winner was signed for £107 million ?

Still only 22 and on a contract until 2031, there is still so much more football to play for the Argentine, and Chelsea fans can be delighted he will be playing the most of it in their colours if it all goes right.

Mykhaylo Mudryk might have had an off night on his home debut but there’s no denying his talent. Evident on his debut at Anfield, where he needed only 21 minutes to deal with the Liverpool defence and creating several good chances.

Noni Madueke was also bright on his cameo and same can be said of David Datro Fofana. The group look like an assembly of superstars and in a few years to come, one can only imagine how good they would have become, playing together under the proper guidance.

Whether or not it will be Graham Potter, it is obvious Chelsea’s hundreds of millions has and will not go to waste with this players. It might not happen for them in the first match when fans had hoped so much, but it will soon happen, because they have all it needs to make it happen.

Joao Felix, who is currently here on loan from Atletico Madrid will return to add more attacking power when next they are in league action having served his three game suspension due to a red card on his debut.

There is also a chance Chelsea snap him up on a permanent contract at the end of the loan agreement. The club has also potentially secured a deal with RB Leipzig for Christopher Nkunku, and the Frenchman will be expected to arrive and become a Chelsea player in the summer.

It might be over in domestic competitions this season but Chelsea are still very much in Europe and in previous seasons when they’ve won the Champions League, we knew it wasn’t all smooth for them domestically, and they had also in those two seasons experienced change in management.

With other top clubs not really convincing at the moment, this could open way for Chelsea to repeat another surprise in Europe. But it won’t be much of a surprise this time because even now that the results are not encouraging, there’re tens of reasons to believe it’s just a matter of time.

Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi