Look no further than Man City for the title

In his fortnightly exclusive column for CaughtOffside, Jon Smith, one of football’s first-ever agents and a man who was an integral figure in the forming of the Premier League, discusses Chelsea being a fascinating work in progress, why nothing has changed at West Ham despite all their new signings, why he can’t look beyond Man City for the Premier League title – and more! 

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Chelsea remain a fascinating work in progress

Chelsea are a fascinating work in progress, aren’t they?

The Sancho/Sterling thing for instance… Sancho is probably on the same kind of money as Sterling, and I guess he’s younger…

I’m not sure what’s happened with Sterling but obviously something’s gone wrong internally I would have thought.

You don’t just treat a player with that talent and history the way that he was treated. So I think the move to Arsenal is good for him and it’s almost like an internal swap with Sancho.

But what about the likes of Ben Chilwell? He’s on the best part of 200 grand, and he’s now stuck with the kids, which I find that a little bit strange. What happens if Cucurella gets injured?

Putting my agents hat on for a second, you’ve got a player that has to deal with the situation that he finds himself in, and one he clearly won’t like, but in my humble opinion he has to be a professional.

He’s being very well paid, and it’s what he does for a living.

If you’re a professional roofer and you don’t get on with your boss for some reason, and you throw a tantrum because the guy asks you to go up on someone’s roof, then you either do it or you walk out.

So if Chilwell’s that unhappy, walk out. Speak to the PFA for breach a contract.

It doesn’t work that way though as we know, however, so for the short time the player is on Planet Football, the rewards are big and he must behave, in my opinion, like a professional, even if maybe his employers aren’t.

Not that I’m not suggesting Chelsea aren’t of course, because there’s obviously stuff that’s going on that I’m not aware of there.

Brighton have done it again with Hurzeler appointment

I find myself praising Paul Barber and the team at Brighton again.

I mean, they just keep coming up with these names out of nowhere. Fabian Hurzeler, just 31 years of age from the German second division and he seems to have got it straightaway.

The players seem to respect him, though I’m only observing, and from what I’ve seen tactically they’re very adept.

I thought Arsenal looked good at…