“Super concerning… what’s the plan? I am worried.” – Pundit slams Chelsea’s transfer planning | OneFootball

Looking at our striker options this summer, things were looking so healthy for Chelsea. The Blues had added Liam Delap and Joao Pedro to their roster, and both of them made a really positive impression at the Club World Cup.

But before the end of the window, incumbent striker Nicolas Jackson was loaned out and Liam Delap got injured. That’s left just Joao Pedro up top, and he’s already been run into the ground. He hasn’t looked effective for weeks.

Chelsea had no plan for Delap injury

Liam Delap lies injured. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

On the London is Blue podcast, presenter Nick Verlaney was pointing out that this just wasn’t acceptable:

“What’s the plan guys? This [version of] Joao Pedro is not going to work in what we’re trying to do. He can’t run. He can’t run like he was running this summer. And if you can’t press from that position, the whole system falls apart. I agree that Ty’s not great there, but… who else? If they’re not going to play Guiu, you’re going to play Pedro Neto and burn him out like you did at the end of last season?”

Regret over Jackson sale

A major part of his issue with what Chelsea did was their decision to loan out Jackson, leaving themselves short up top:

“Imagine if we were rolling out Nicolas Jackson, how much more comfortable you’d feel watching an actual centre forward play centre forward. I am super, super, super worried because Joao Pedro is not going to be ready for Liverpool, to play at what we know his peak can be early in the season.

“And he’s not going to have a partner until Liam Delap’s back, and God only know when that is going to be. You have to come up with a strategy to overcome all these injuries, and they simply haven’t done it the entire month of September. Like, it is more than concerning at this point.”