Ideal Chelsea plan: Pulisic on the right, Hudson-Odoi on the left — report

Chelsea are hoping that we live in an ideal world — even if events of the past week should dissuade even the most optimistic and naive person of that — or at least an ideal football world, where we can have our cake and eat it, too. That’s according to the Mail’s latest bit of rumor mongering regarding Christian Pulisic.

The report claims that Maurizio Sarri “swoops” to sign Pulisic, though obviously we know that Maurizio ain’t doing any swooping himself (holla back, MG!). He’s in charge of the football operations, not the transfer operations, and his involvement doesn’t extend beyond recommendations and possibly consultation.

In any case, if Chelsea are indeed making the move on Pulisic — who won’t be making a decision regarding his future until January and who isn’t likely to actually leave Borussia Dortmund until the summer (but a deal certainly could be still done in January) — the move could have a few repercussions, some intended, some unintended.

In an ideal world, the £60m (new price alert!) spent on Pulisic is an investment to replace the likes of Willian and Pedro — and not Hazard (and least not yet) — while not driving away the likes of Callum Hudson-Odoi (especially as transfer interest in him picks up). According to the Mail, Chelsea are banking on riding this unicorn all the way to the treasure chest at the end of the rainbow.

Chelsea will stress that Pulisic will play on the right, with Hudson-Odoi predominantly left-sided.

And managing director Marina Granovskaia would be reluctant to let Hudson-Odoi leave as he is seen as the player most likely to be the first of the Roman Abramovich era to progress from the academy to being a first-team star.

-source: contents of said treasure chest

But hey, it’s good to have ambitious plans, right? Pulisic (or insert your favorite transfer market target for the right wing) replaces Willian or Pedro or both (maybe one of them sticks around for veteran presence), Hudson-Odoi steps one ahead in the rotation, and gradually replaces Hazard on the left wing. Hazard, about to turn 28 next month, has one more big contract left in him; by the time that starts winding down (along with his physical attributes, presumably), CH-O will be ready for full-time prime-time. That even leaves a fourth spot open for another Academy player to step up! Spend big on a few, fill the rest from the Academy. The Master Plan!

(Yeah, I don’t have high hopes that’s how it’s going to work out, for one reason or another or several, but we’ll just have to wait and see...)