Former IBF middleweight champion and lifelong Chelsea fan Darren Barker sat down with SportsCasting to run through the club’s transfer window — from the new arrivals at the back to how Cole Palmer and Morgan Rodgers might fit together, and the futures of Enzo Fernández and a few fringe names.
SportsCasting: The easiest place to start is the transfer window — what are your thoughts so far with Morgan Rodgers coming in?
Darren Barker: I like some of the defenders we’ve brought in — the names evade me right now, but firming up at the back was always something we needed to do. I’m not a fan of Malo Gusto in the slightest, so I hope he moves on. I’m sad to see Cucurella go, if I’m honest. I like Marco Palestra, who we brought in from Atalanta. And I’m happy with Morgan Rodgers — it just shows intent. I think it shows the players and the fans the ambition of the club. We’re not sitting back, we’re not panicking. It’s like, “Right, we’ve had an off-season, let’s go again, we’ve got a new manager in.” I’m excited about the future. It’s just a case of gelling as quickly as we can.
SportsCasting: A lot of the chat’s been about whether Rodgers and Cole Palmer can play in the same team — where would they play? Do you think one moves out to the left, one plays through the middle?
Darren Barker: I think so — trial and error, if I’m honest. I’d like to think most of that gets worked out in pre-season on the training field. There was always that conversation at the World Cup too, about how Rodgers and Bellingham would gel. I think it’s evolved a lot since the Lampard-Gerrard days — players are far more comfortable with patterns of play now, and so adaptable. I think it’ll work, and I think they’re close friends as well — they both share the same celebration.
SportsCasting: Well, they were both at Manchester City together?
Darren Barker: Yeah, exactly, so they know how each other plays. I think that’ll bring the best out of one another — both want the other to do well. So to answer your question, I’m really pleased with the transfer window. I think João Pedro will have a big season, with a lot of support behind him.
SportsCasting: He just scored a nine-minute hat-trick against Western Sydney Wanderers.
Darren Barker: Did he? Lovely. Yeah, he’s someone I think will do well. How he didn’t go to the World Cup, I do not know — it absolutely blows my mind. On form, he’s a tough man to defend against.
SportsCasting Barker: Would you say there needs to be any more additions to the squad? You’ve mentioned the defence — is there anyone else, like wingers, you’d like to see come in? And anyone else you think should depart, beyond Gusto?
Darren Barker: I’m not a fan of Gusto at all — I know the way the game’s gone, but I can’t do with his rolling around, and I don’t like his attitude. I don’t think he’s good enough to play for us, I’d like to see him move on. I was really encouraged to hear there was a chance of us getting John Stones — I’m all over that, I think he’s the experience we need. Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck — I’m not sure about those. I’m thinking long-term — we’re signing a lot of eight, nine-year contracts, aren’t we? So for someone to come in for a couple of years, it’d be more about being that glue in the dressing room and on the training field, like Henderson was at the World Cup. And Welbeck — what a season he had, another one unlucky to miss the World Cup squad.
SportsCasting: I feel like one of the criticisms of Chelsea last year was that they didn’t have enough experience — do you think they need to go for more of the 27-, 28-year-old age range now, rather than players who are maybe a bit more “passed it”?
Darren Barker: Possibly, yeah — possibly on a four-year contract. I don’t mind Stones at all. Thirty-two years old, a Premier League veteran, knows the league, played at the World Cup too. I’d love him — he’s available, but it looks like he’s heading to Milan, I feel, with Arsenal in the mix as well. I think he’s better suited at Chelsea since he started there. I could see Stones and Colwill, and Chalobah too if we’re playing three at the back. But Henderson and Welbeck — I’m not sure. The jury’s out — but I could understand bringing Henderson in. Probably not Welbeck though. We’ll see.
SportsCasting: The last thing I wanted to ask about was Enzo Fernández — there was all the talk about him possibly going to Real Madrid before the World Cup, then the World Cup happened and a lot of people seem to have turned on him. How do you feel about him as a Chelsea fan? He’s obviously been amazing and dragged you through games at times — would you want him to stay, or would you let him go?
Darren Barker: There are two ways to look at this — one as a Chelsea fan, one as an England fan. As an England fan, he disgusted me, I was devastated. But if he did that for England, you’d give him a pass — if he did it for Chelsea, you’d get rid, right? I love his work ethic, he’s an old-school box-to-box midfielder, he’s got a goal in him, he works his socks off, he earns his wages. He’s still a young man, and I think he’ll mature — I think the winding up and aggravating players will probably change. There’s something about putting that Argentina shirt on, they turn into wind-up merchants. I hated that game, one of the least enjoyable games I’ve ever watched — the way Simeone’s son was rolling around, aggravating, pushing. It was nasty, horrible. But with Fernández, I think it’d be mixed.
SportsCasting: If he starts next season and stays, would you be happy with that?
Darren Barker: Yeah, I think so, because of what he brings to the team — energy, a scoring threat. Four or five games in, if he puts in the effort, it’ll all be forgotten. He’s a real asset to us. However, if we could make money on him — what did he come for, 105 or something?
SportsCasting: Just over 100 million — something like 130 is what they were talking.
Darren Barker: I’d sell him for 130. And look for someone else — we need someone better than Henderson, but there are some really good centre-midfielders out there. I think we do need a box-to-box player — I’d like to sit Casemiro back slightly and have someone willing to put in that distance. It’s a win-win: 130 million, and if we keep him, we win too.
