The next Salah or De Bruyne? Chelsea have made another HUGE transfer mistake

Updated: 22 Aug 2023 11:28 BST
6 min read

Kevin de Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Chelsea — © ProShots

Chelsea have felt the repercussions of poor transfer decisions plenty of times in the past, with the sales of Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne the two notable examples.

Neither player set the world alight at Stamford Bridge, but they were never given a real opportunity to shine in west London and were arguably the Premier League’s two best players for several years before Erling Haaland’s arrival in 2022.

Article continues under the video

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Chelsea weren’t to know that Salah and De Bruyne would go on to repeatedly get the better of them in a Liverpool and Manchester City shirt, respectively.

However, the Blues have made another mistake that could look just as foolish in five years' time.

Youngster Lewis Hall has been loaned to Newcastle, and the Magpies are set to make the deal permanent next summer for a fee that could reach £35 million if add-ons are met.

With Chelsea’s acquisition of Romeo Lavia from Southampton, the Blues have now spent over €1 billion since Todd Boehly became the club’s owner in 2022, while they have broken the British transfer record twice during that time.

As a result, Financial Fair Play is an issue, but Chelsea have amortised transfer fees over long contracts - bypassing UEFA laws courtesy of their failure to qualify for European football of any kind last season.

But, it appears that £35m of pure profit - due to Hall coming through the Chelsea academy - was deemed to be too good to turn down. After all, his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) stands at just €11.7m and Chelsea have seized an opportunity to secure a decent fee for a player with just 12 senior appearances to his name.

The problem is, Lewis Hall is an exceptionally talented footballer, who was arguably Chelsea’s best all-round left-back despite progressing through the academy as a central midfielder.

Why Chelsea will regret selling Lewis Hall to Newcastle

The 18-year-old deputised at left-back last season due to Ben Chilwell’s injury problems and Marc Cucurella’s poor form. Frank Lampard, in particular, was a huge fan of Hall and denied the youngster the chance to represent England at the U20 World Cup as he was in Chelsea’s plans.

Hall started Chelsea’s final four Premier League games of last season and his creativity was far superior than Cucurella’s; Hall contributed 3.58 shot-creating actions per 90 last season, while Cucurella was down at 1.46 - the contrast was stark.

However, the writing seemed somewhat on the wall in pre-season, with Mauricio Pochettino not favouring Hall in any position. Chilwell and Cucurella were preferred at left-back, while several other options were ahead of him in the midfield pecking order.

As a result, the teenager was restricted to minutes as a second-half substitute.

But, Chelsea have handled the situation extremely poorly. A loan move to Crystal Palace was all but done, before the Blues stalled and forced Hall to sign a new six-year deal at the club.

FootballTransfers understands that decision was taken to increase his transfer value before sanctioning a sale.

The fact Newcastle - a Champions League club - have snapped up Hall proves the talent he possesses.

The 18-year-old is currently a brilliant two-way full-back and is arguably a more complete left-back than Chilwell - who relies upon his runs in behind to create chances. As for Hall, he is comfortable moving infield to force an overload, while his crossing ability is up there with the best in the entire English top flight.

© ProShots - Ben Chilwell is Chelsea's first choice

He is also an extremely active defender - 3.17 tackles and 1.51 interceptions per 90 last year are testament to that - while his passing quality and press-resistance is almost unheard of for someone of his age.

Hall shone in an appalling 2022-23 Chelsea side and was frequently seen bypassing two or three challenges with neat twists and turns before creating a chance for one of the Blues’ mis-firing forwards.

The Slough-born star is the next big thing to emerge from the Cobham academy, alongside Levi Colwill, but Chelsea have sacrificed a future with Hall as a key member of their side in return for some FFP relief.

The Magpies have operated extremely smartly since their Saudi Arabia investment, and have decided that a Cobham academy duo of Tino Livramento and Hall is a perfect full-back pairing for when Kieran Trippier and Dan Burn become less integral members of the squad.

Hall still sees himself as a central midfielder, according to reports, and he certainly has the technical quality to play that role at a Premier League standard already, while his talent level is certainly that of a future Champions League quality midfielder.

However, it remains to be seen whether Howe crafts Hall into a central midfielder or if he decides staying at left-back is the best course of action.

But whatever happens with regards to Hall’s future position, Chelsea will rue this decision massively in a few years time - similar to how the sales of Salah and De Bruyne are looked upon now.