Will Chelsea be allowed a transitional season? Barcelona have left them ill-prepared

We all already know that Joan Laporta is about as shameless as football executives come, but even so hisahead of the start of the new season raised an eyebrow or two. Barcelona have spent the summer acting as though Chelsea were their scouting network, repeatedly parachuting themselves in to hijack whichever transfers the Premier League club were trying to seal.

But despite all of this, Laporta told CBS, presumably while wiping a bead of drool from his mouth, that “I respect Cesar and Marcos as footballers. They are very, very good players. They show their quality and talent at Chelsea. But I don’t want to talk about them as a matter of respect for Chelsea.” Respect, huh? He’s got a funny way of showing it.

Only Brighton, Crystal Palace, Southampton and Burnley drew more games, and this failure to kill off matches was the biggest single reason why they ended their season looking over their shoulders at Spurs and Arsenal below them rather than looking up at Manchester City and Liverpool. After the events of the last six months or so, perhaps Chelsea could do with a clearly defined ‘transitional season’ during which the pressures of football’s culture of instant gratification are put on a back burner in favour of building a base for their new future.

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