“Unfair pressure and expectation” – Stan Collymore is worried for potential Chelsea poster boy
Chelsea, perhaps more than any other club in the Premier League at present, has the eyes of the footballing world upon them.
Rather than for football reasons, it’s because of the way in which the club are being run by Todd Boehly.
The American entrepreneur’s largesse in the transfer market has seen the Blues front and centre for the past couple of years, and whilst that’s clearly fed Boehly’s ego, it’s done little for harmony on the pitch.
Arguably, the Blues are a worse outfit now than when he took over from Roman Abramovich, and that’s despite spending incessantly on new players.
Collymore is worried for potential new Chelsea signing
Two of his signings – Enzo Maresca and Moises Caicedo – came in at over the £100m mark, and now talks have apparently reopened for Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, for whom the Partnopei want €130m.
It’s an astronomical sum and it would be another British record capture for the West Londoners.
Stan Collymore knows all about the pressures that come with being the British record holder, as his move from Nottingham Forest to Liverpool for £8.5m was indeed a record back in 1995, and he’s concerned for the Nigerian if he swaps Serie A for the Premier League.
“When I broke the British transfer record, you had players that would periodically do it, particularly through the early to mid 90s, as more and more money came into the Premier League,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“Roy Keane broke the British transfer record I think at £2m-£3m, Andy Cole went for £7.5m, I was £8.5m and then Shearer nearly doubled it with his £15m signing for Newcastle.
“So, the birth of the transfer record player became a big deal.
“That player, whoever it was, got talked about way beyond whether they were good, bad or indifferent on the pitch. It was always that the record signing would be expected to make the difference which I always thought was very unfair.
“[…] At this point of a window previously, we might’ve expected a number of clubs to be breaking their transfer records but they haven’t, so all of a sudden we’re going back to the sort of mid to late 90s outlier.
“The big-name signing that won’t just entertain us but will also become the poster boy of both his club and the entire Premier League.
“That could well be the case for Victor Osimhen if his rumoured move to Chelsea comes off, because the mind boggling numbers then puts unfair pressure and expectation on him.”
Given the standpoint that Collymore speaks from, his words are worth more than a cursory review.
Osimhen was poor last season for Napoli and yet, if signed by Chelsea, will be expected to recapture the form that helped win the Serie A side their first Scudetto in three decades.
If he doesn’t deliver, Chelsea’s supporters are likely to be unforgiving, and that would be as a direct result of his transfer fee – which he isn’t in control of.
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