Club World Cup cash can stabilise in-flux Chelsea

Thomas Tuchel was musing about the knock-on effect of the Club World Cup on next season’s title race. I think it will have a huge impact and it will give Liverpool and Arsenal a huge advantage in the next season to not be there,” he said.

- RICHARD JOLLY

What Tuchel did not mention is that Chelsea, disadvantaged as a result, qualified for the Club World Cup because of him. It feels a very different era given that Enzo Maresca is the fifth man to manage them since – Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor, Frank Lampard and Mauricio Pochettino are the others – and that Reece James is the only player to take the field in Tuchel’s 2021 Champions League final victory who is in the squad they have taken to the United States.

Indeed, if some of the others get winners’ medals in July, it will mean Chelsea have not done a unique double of the Europa Conference League and the Club World Cup. Their Champions League-winning captain Cesar Azpilicueta is at Atletico Madrid now, Antonio Rudiger at Real. At 40, Thiago Silva will be in the Fluminense defence. Jorginho completed a move to Flamengo in time to play for his new club against his old one. Olivier Giroud, on the bench for Chelsea in 2021, could occupy a similar role for Los Angeles FC now, perhaps emerging to score against the Blues. Mateo Kovacic would have been in the Manchester City squad but for injury.

The Chelsea that qualified for the Club World Cup had a different manager, different players, different owner and, in many ways, was a different club. They were, at least, serial winners whereas the Conference League represented a belated first trophy of the Todd Boehly/Clearlake Capital era.