Chelsea are being held back by a glaring gap that will haunt them until January: They may have banked £125m for Enzo Fernandez but that big bag of cash is no help on the pitch, writes KIERAN GILL
It was almost as if Arsenal were rubbing it in, replacing Myles Lewis-Skelly with Martin Zubimendi to join Declan Rice in their midfield and with Bruno Guimaraes unused among the substitutes.
Mikel Arteta had elite midfielders to spare. Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, finished this match with two right backs in Reece James and Malo Gusto trying to fill in centrally while trailing 2-1.
We know what went down on deadline day so do not need to repeat it in full here, but to summarise it in a sentence: Chelsea sold Enzo Fernandez and signed nobody.
That made Arteta's 67th-minute substitution in his own midfield all the more intriguing. Chelsea were offered the chance to potentially sign Lewis-Skelly by intermediaries in the summer. They were interested in bringing in Zubimendi for a reunion with Alonso. They looked at multiple other midfielders, from Bournemouth’s Alex Scott to Roma’s Manu Kone to Monaco’s Lamine Camara.
They signed none of those names. With Moises Caicedo still sidelined, Jordan Henderson not ready and Alonso seemingly lacking some trust in Valentin Barco – the 22-year-old Argentinian who arrived from sister side Strasbourg this summer – Chelsea started with James and Romeo Lavia. When Gusto replaced Lavia after an hour, it confirmed the latter has still yet to complete a competitive full 90 for this club.
