It will take a lot to mend large cracks in this Roman wall
WHILE the eyes of the globe are fixed on Russia, our top clubs are beavering away – busying themselves behind the scenes.
The Premier League never stops, not even for the World Cup.
Arsenal are getting to grips with life post-arsene Wenger by buying a player over the age of 30 amid excitement that new faces are at the helm at the Emirates.
Liverpool’s long pursuit of Naby Keita has already come good. A chase for Nabil Fekir is not over.
Manchester United have signed Fred. We look forward to an Albert and Bill following in due course.
Tottenham tied Harry Kane to a new deal – and kept Mauricio Pochettino out of Real Madrid’s clutches.
Manchester City have not been active. But when you’ve won the title by 19 points, there isn’t such urgency.
Out of the so-called Big Six, there is one club where the only sound is that of tumbleweed blowing across the stadium car park – Chelsea.
It’s 15 years since Roman Abramovich decided to breath fresh life into Stamford Bridge.
Fifteen trophies later, the power of his wallet – and of the outfit he has created – is there for all to see.
Or it was.
Firing
It is all beginning to look a touch ominous.
Inertia isn’t the latest foreign signing, it’s a lack of forward movement.
And for the first time since Abramovich came in and, in the famous words of ex-arsenal bigwig David Dein, ‘parked his tank on the lawn and started firing £50 notes at everyone’, the Blues are stuck in a holding pattern.
Like holiday planes waiting for clearance to jet away from those annoying French air traffic controllers, nothing seems to be moving.
Boss Antonio Conte won’t fall on his sword. Why should he, when he’s due £9million in compensation?
Abramovich doesn’t want to hand over that kind of cash, knowing full well that Conte wants to leave in any case, despite recently lifting the FA Cup.
Maurizio Sarri is ready to come in – but the club is already halfway through June – and it might be a while before the decision-makers stop dancing around their handbags and force things to a conclusion.
It has not been a great 12 months at Chelsea.
Their highly- regarded technical director Michael Emenalo has quit after 10 years. Conte’s sense of intensity with his players has turned them from winners to sinners. Now, after Abramovich was refused his entry visa into Britain, it appears none have changed their manager as the wheels are about to fall off. often as they have.
Plans to rebuild Stamford Bridge For whatever reason – usually have also hit the buffers. associated with failure by the slimmest of margins – they have been chewed up and spat out.
But now the cracks are really starting to appear.
Whether they are wide enough to shake the very foundations of this club should become plain to see long before the first ball is kicked in August.
Difficult