Chelsea add Manchester United superstar to shortlist as Pochettino searches for ‘experienced’ players

Chelsea earmark Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw to January transfer shortlist

In a surprising transfer rumour, Chelsea have added Manchester United stalwart Luke Shaw to their transfer shortlist as they look to add more depth to their left-back area.

According to Simon Philips, (h/t Express), Chelsea are contemplating pursuing a move for the English international. The United left-back, who has missed the majority of the current season due to injury, is still unavailable. It makes one wonder if Chelsea wants to recruit another injury-prone player.

With Marc Cucurella injured and Ben Chilwell’s recent return from a hamstring injury, Chelsea have been left with no fullback options, which has seen Mauricio Pochettino to play Levi Colwill as a left-back.

Meanwhile, Malo Gusto has also operated as a left-back, who naturally is a right-back, and the Blues’ lack of options in the left-back position has compelled the West Londoners to seek reinforcements. More so, Gusto is still a work in progress and has failed to push on and make the position his own.

And Chelsea gaffer Mauricio Pochettino has already advised the club to sign Premier League-proven players, as he told the media following a 1-0 win over Fulham:

“It is important to have players with experience in the Premier League. If we compare our players to Fulham’s players, they have players who have played in the league for many years, and we do not have too many.”

“We talk about Chelsea, and yes, sure, but we are in the process of building a new team. This is the type of game that can help us believe in the process.”

This is partially true because the presence of league-experienced players facilitates the manager’s job and allows him to implement his strategy more quickly, allowing players to adjust to the situation more quickly. Players that are signed from overseas leagues take much longer to settle and sometimes they fail to make a difference and get eventually sold.

From a tactical point of view, they also get used to playing with Premier League intensity adds much greater experience and helps in squad building quickly. We have seen it already with Timo Werner, who never settled in the league. The same could be said for Kai Havertz, given the amount of seasons they spent at the club and never really had the sort of impact we expected from them and were sold after all.

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Shaw is not the best in his position but has experience and is a reliable contender more often than not. Whether Manchester United are ready to listen to offers or not remains to be seen.