Chelsea Must Avoid the Europa League Despite Guus Hiddink's Desire Not To

STAMFORD BRIDGE, LONDON — It's to Guus Hiddink's credit that he continues to chase what appears to be the impossible dream of European football for Chelsea next season.

The Dutchman clearly doesn't see himself as a manager who is just passing through at Stamford Bridge. He wants to give the club a platform for next year, and like any professional with a semblance of credibility, that means not accepting mediocrity.

Hiddink doesn't want to bow out of his second spell in west London by finishing in mid-table; he wants Chelsea to finish as high up in the Premier League as they can in order to have European football next year.

As much as we can admire that determination, it's equally Hiddink's undoing. From a sporting perspective, he's right that Chelsea should be chasing everything they can regardless of stature. But surely this club has bigger priorities.

One of those has to be a major renovation of the playing staff this summer. Chelsea are fast approaching a crossroads that will go a long way to determining where the club positions itself in the next few years. A failure to recruit the right players and blood their youth will only set Chelsea back further.

There's still the issue of appointing their new manager—officially at least—as they attempt to re-evaluate what the club is all about.

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

This season, we've seen Chelsea's identity completely diluted. With Jose Mourinho sacked for a second time and John Terry set to depart, what comes next will be the start of a new era for the club. The past is very much the past, and with nothing to cling onto in that regard, it's vital the mistakes of previous regimes aren't repeated.

Not having European football will surely help that process, giving coaches and players a unique opportunity to build something. Without European football, Chelsea will have time—that most valuable of commodities—to get things right.

Consider Antonio Conte—or any other manager—spending an entire season playing just 38 Premier League matches with a sprinkling of League Cup and FA Cup fixtures. Rather than sitting on planes and in departure lounges, on coaches to and from stadia across the continent, Chelsea will be working on the training pitch for an entire week. Sessions wouldn't be about recovery but creating a system for the club to build the new generation around.

When Bleacher Report put this notion to Hiddink after the 2-2 draw with West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, the Chelsea boss disagreed.

"Well it's always difficult because in sport I think you must always get the highest position possible," he told us. "If you start calculating about not going into Europe for whatever the reason might be...even if it's a podium that's under the standard of Chelsea, it might have some benefits for the team and the younger players in that sequence of many games.

"I'm not in favour of saying we must calculate that we must not play in Europe. I think then you're undervaluing the why of tournaments."

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

A sporting man to his core, Hiddink is right. As we reflect on the past decade at Chelsea, however, it's that exact approach that has left the club where it is.

Chelsea haven't undervalued any tournament in the slightest since Roman Abramovich took control in 2003. There's never been a question of the club not trying to win the League Cup or UEFA Europa League—they've been committed, and it's delivered unprecedented levels of success. Chelsea have won every competition possible.

Success was achieved with an overreliance on a core group of players, though. They built a spine and stuck with it, but now that has gone and there's nothing left in its place.

Look at the Chelsea dressing room. Where are the leaders now? Where are the match-winners? Where is that new spine forming?

We can't answer any of those questions with confidence, which is a big problem for this club.

Chelsea's past 12 years are a paradox. From being English football's most successful club, the short-termism that has delivered all that silverware has equally been damaging. Because they have been hellbent on chasing glory, it's meant they haven't focused on the future.

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

A generation of young stars from the academy have been let go because of the need to win matches now. Players signed for large sums haven't been given time to succeed, and that turnover outside the core group of Petr Cech, Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba has damaged Chelsea.

The club's mission for unrelenting glory has meant there hasn't been time for passengers. Now they're suffering because of it.

Whereas Chelsea's structure of the past allowed them to get through difficult periods, they can no longer respond in the same way. That means the approach has to change; an element of realism must take hold for the club to accept where it is.

Chelsea will not be ready to win the Europa League next season. And as things stand, we can't expect them to be challenging for the Premier League title, either. The club has bottomed out, and it's only by taking stock in 2016/17 that they can ensure this moment of abject failure is brief.

That's what it is after all—a team of Premier League champions sitting in mid-table with nothing left to play for before March is even out is the definition of failure.

Hiddink's point on Chelsea's youngsters benefiting from the club being involved in more competitions next season doesn't cut it, either. Perhaps if he stayed around beyond the summer it might, yet the trend is a clear one where Chelsea are concerned.

Alex Morton/Getty Images

Young players aren't given enough opportunities at Stamford Bridge. When Chelsea were regularly playing 60 or more games a season, they were never given a chance to develop then, so why would that change next season if the intention is to chase silverware?

The theory has always been that at the highest level it's difficult to integrate youth with so much on the line. So by that measure, a season of purely domestic football will be suitable for blooding Izzy Brown, Dominic Solanke, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and so many others.

Chelsea's concern shouldn't be about undervaluing competitions; it should be about valuing their own future. Europa League football next season isn't going to do that.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.