Roman Abramovich’s early attempts to transform Chelsea into a Barcelona-style team that plays football which is admired the world over were generally doomed before they had even started.
That is because the first genuinely great Blues side of the modern era, built by Jose Mourinho, was so strongly built on contrasting ideals.
That counter-attacking, physical, pacy side, in their 4-3-3 so different to that of the Catalan giants was packed to the brim with leaders that were so strong that even once the Portuguese had been removed from the Stamford Bridge dugout, the gritty, dogged but relentless style was still Chelsea’s default setting.
That side was led by Petr Cech, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba but one by one, in recent years, Chelsea have hemorrhaged strong personalities and done little to replace them.
Those strong personalities – that some would argue were too strong for Andre Villas-Boas to effectively carry out Abramovich’s wishes and modernise the club’s style of play in 2011/12 – were the foundation of Chelsea’s early success but not one of them is still connected to the club.
In the interim, the Blues attempted to construct a new breed of leaders; Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Cesar Azpilicueta and Eden Hazard have led the club through a period in which they have mixed a steady accumulation of trophies with disastrous campaigns.
The level of leadership just isn’t the same but in any case, Cahill – the current club captain – and Luiz are marginalised at Stamford Bridge and Hazard could very well swap west London for the lure of the Bernabeu.
As the Blues continue struggle to find an atmosphere around the club that can prevent their form in between seasons oscillating wildly, it is clear that a new set of leaders must emerge.
That leads on well to the situation surrounding the future of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who looks set to head to Real Madrid.
Courtois won the Golden Glove at the World Cup in Russia and his talent is not in doubt. However, in the two seasons where Chelsea have put up putrid title defences – 2015/16 and 2017/18 – his standards have dropped as far as anyone’s.
That belies a lack of character and leadership. His performance declines too readily along with the team’s and he is unable to provoke improvement from those in front of him – despite a solid defence behind Chelsea’s historic strength under Abramovich.
His career path has been fairly gentle. Temporary spells at Atletico Madrid are as cushy as it gets as a member of Chelsea’s loan army and they coincided with incredible success under Diego Simeone.
He returned to Chelsea as a La Liga winner and Champions League finalist and dislodged Petr Cech fairly easily as the Blues’ number one, where he has remained unchallenged ever since.
That career path and attitude is in direct contrast with that of Kasper Schmeichel, valued at just £10.8m by Transfermarkt andlinked with Stamford Bridge as Courtois’ direct replacement.
Since coming through the ranks at Manchester City back when they were still United’s poor relations, the Dane’s route to the top has been taken via Darlington, Bury, Falkirk, Cardiff City, Coventry City, Notts County and Leeds United before he found himself as the unlikeliest Premier League-winning goalkeeper of all time in 2016.
He has had to battle his way into the top flight and out of his father’s shadow to stand on the brink of a move into the top six and that personality makes him exactly what Chelsea need right now.
Although Schmeichel does not appear to appreciate the constant comparisons with his dad, it must be pointed out that he shares the same no-nonsense attitude and willingness to dig out underperforming team-mates regardless of their reputations or egos.
He is a leader, who would not be intimidated by his illustrious new comrades, telling them exactly what he thinks of them in an attempt to raise standards.
As an elite side, the drop-offs Chelsea have experienced after their past two title wins are simply unacceptable and new blood and strong leaders coming into the dressing room is the only way to rectify the problem, which has rumbled on for too long.
Replacing Courtois with the tougher, hungrier Schmeichel may bring about a slight dip in quality but would reinforce the club’s spine, which has been weakened since John Terry walked out of the door.
Chelsea simply must recruit a new raft of leaders to guide them into a new era and the purchase of Schmeichel would be a major early step in the right direction
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