Relatively few noticed that Fulham on the last day of the transfer window picked up midfielder Sasa Lukic from Torino for just over SEK 100 million.
However, Chelsea’s actions in January seem to have gone unnoticed by few football fans.
When Argentine Enzo Fernández was completed for the London club at the eleventh hour, for a record sum of just over 1.35 billion kroner, he was only the latest in a long line of expensive new acquisitions in the first month of the year.
The pillar in the way
Some examples of Graham Potter’s team in Friday’s home game against Fulham:
+ Fernández from Benfica, SEK 1.35 billion.
+ Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk, SEK 1.1 billion.
+ Beonît Badiashile from Monaco, SEK 440 million.
+ Noni Madueke (substitute during break) from PSV Eindhoven, SEK 370 million.
But football matches are, as you know, decided on football pitches, as Fulham showed with that honor at Stamford Bridge.
The visitors didn’t concede much at all, and had it not been for Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s quick reaction to Andreas Pereira’s long-range shot, it would have also been 1-0 to Fulham in the 25th minute.
It wasn’t until the final minute of the first half that Chelsea found a truly dangerous scoring chance when Kai Havertz broke free. The German’s lob outwitted compatriot Bernd Leno in the Fulham goal, but was stopped by the post.
Mold recruitment close to being decided
The position war continued after the break, and prestige signing Enzo Fernández, like the others, had difficulty unlocking the match. However, one of the January additions was about to secure the three points for Chelsea in the end.
The Ivorian David Datro Fofana, brought in from Norwegian Molde (reportedly costing around SEK 130 million), came on with a quarter of an hour remaining and just a few minutes later he rounded an onrushing Leno to roll in the lead. But Tim Ream became a saving angel for Fulham when he blocked Fofana’s shot on the goal line.
The goalless game and shared points means that Fulham are sixth in the table, with 32 points. Chelsea, a game in hand at Fulham, are ninth, two points behind.