In many ways the story of Chelsea’s acquisition of Ben Chilwell from Leicester City is a familiar one. A big-spending club poaches a young English star from a side that over-performed the season before.
Yet the £45 million price tag seems low when compared to the transfers of recent years. Is Chilwell really only a little more than half as good as his former team-mate Harry Maguire?
Two factors are likely to have been at hand. The first is that, despite a wealth of evidence indicating the importance of left-backs to a team, the position is still undervalued. If a player of Chilwell’s skill was a central defender or a midfielder, he would certainly have moved for a higher fee.
Chilwell can reasonably claim to be alongside Andy Robertson and Alphonso Davies in the upper echelons of the world’s best left-backs. In any other position, it’s unlikely that a 23-year-old with four years left on their contract and experience of playing in a major European league would be sold for a similar price.
It appeared that the contribution of a left-back to a team was finally being recognised last year when Bayern Munich signed Lucas Hernandez from Atletico Madrid for a record £68m. So what’s changed?
It seems even big clubs are having to tighten the purse strings a little due to COVID-19. However, as the new season approaches and clubs begin to fear the repercussions of not strengthening their side, it will be interesting to see whether the relative parsimony displayed so far continues.
Or if it turns out exceptions can be made if you’re hoping to sign Lionel Messi.
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