Oh Chelsea.
You can say what you like about Chelsea Football Club, but when it comes to the transfer market, they are heralded as one of the more canny operators of the top echelons of the game. Under the studious eye of Marina Granovskaia, the capital club have tended to bargain hard for talent, whilst somehow managing to sell on players for inflated fees.
However, this January transfer window has raised a few eyebrows. If the reaction to the capture of Ross Barkley from Everton raised a few eyebrows, developments on Thursday evening had them midway up the forehead. It soon emerged that Conte (or someone at the club) was involved in a desperate scramble to bring a lanky striker to the club.
First fans were incredulous at the strong rumours linking Andy Carroll to Stamford Bridge. They couldn’t fathom how the West Ham talisman could be seen as anywhere near Chelsea quality. Then came the even more dumbfounding news that none other than Peter Crouch was a genuine target. Yes, that Peter Crouch. 36-year-old and 6’7″ Peter Crouch.
The reason seems clear. Morata can’t score for toffee and the solution seems to be route one football. Sign a beanpole centre-forward who can get on the end of the things and knock the ball down to teammates. It may not be pretty – it may be Hard Brexit football – but it’s effective. But what some social media sleuths are hoisting Chelsea with their petard.
Back in 2010, the official Twitter account posted this rather sniffy tweet:
Crouch is coming on. Route one here we come. #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 12, 2010
Of course, the irony now is somewhat delicious. And everyone is loving it. We’ve got one piece of advice for the Chelsea hierarchy: DELETE!
— Retro United (@Retro_Utd) January 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Deja_Ox/status/954090698378305536
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/954093378018430976
https://twitter.com/BowdenCFC87/status/954092253273821186
— Kvng Khareta (@Jeremy_Zuyi) January 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/DujonSZN/status/954093633145397249
