Jamie Gittens’ Struggle Highlights Chelsea’s Transfer Gap With Liverpool | OneFootball

Gittens’ Slow Start

Jamie Gittens has had a tough start to life at Chelsea. Perhaps it was symbolic that his first reveal for his new club did not come from a tailored social media video but from a shot of him quietly joining the celebrations on the pitch following a Club World Cup win over Palmeiras.

Gittens has failed to convince so far, veering from ineffective to woefully short of the sharpness required to elevate Chelsea’s attacking output. At a price of $81M from Dortmund, that expectation is reasonable.

A disastrous cameo from the bench against Benfica only poured fuel onto the growing criticism. At the age of 20, Gittens can be forgiven for needing room to mature. However, he arrives at a time when demands are high. Supporters’ patience for waiting years for results is already strained.

A Clash of Transfer Philosophies

Chelsea’s ambitions should be building towards a Premier League title. The leeway for a strategy that invests heavily in raw talent continues to puzzle many, even after the undeniable highs of the past summer.

It feels apt that Chelsea square up against Liverpool on Saturday evening. There was once a time when the transfer philosophies of both clubs were reversed. Chelsea were purely focused on the here and now; Liverpool were forced to rely on the potential stars of tomorrow. Now, Liverpool are breaking transfer records multiple times in the same window.

Whilst the future may still have some bearing, the signing of Alexander Isak represents Liverpool’s priority for the present—a judgement call some Chelsea fans feel their own club has recently got wrong.

It is now infamous transfer history that Liverpool clinically moved to sign Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker in 2018—deals that helped propel Jurgen Klopp’s squad into fully-fledged title challengers. That pair remain ever-present today, forming the spine of an impressive defence.

The Chelsea Revolving Door

For Chelsea, the concern remains that each summer will see a revolving door of names in an endless pursuit of trading. Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson were Gittens a couple of years back—given time and space to improve until they were deemed disposable.

As a club, Chelsea had committed time to both players. Allowing them to get through awkward mishaps, moments of failure and intense media scrutiny. They had adjusted to that and proven decent, if not extraordinary players in the squad. It seemed logical after going through that struggle to see where they could go next.

Will this trend keep repeating? And where will it actually take Chelsea in the long term? If Gittens—a player with clear potential—settles and grows in importance, will he also be deemed disposable after years of development, replaced by a younger, less seasoned version of himself?

Chelsea are competing with clubs who are prioritizing the here and now. Whilst there is some logic in buying for the long term, an actual endpoint needs to matter.

You can follow my coverage of Chelsea on YouTube at SonOfChelsea. More written coverage of the club on Substack. Follow me on X for more thoughts, along with listening to the podcast.