10 things we expect to see this summer at Stamford Bridge!

The season 2012/13 is a season to forget for any chelsea fan. But, There have been some bad times in recent years like the 2007/08 season in which Jose Mourinho left the club with a ‘mutual consent’ and chelsea lost to Manchester United in Moscow UCL Final 2008. But that summer, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba extended their contracts to stay at Chelsea. That was a big news at the time after many speculations linking the two away from Stamford Bridge to Mourinho’s new-found home, Inter Milan. And the following season chelsea won the FA Cup and knocked-out of UCL unfairly against Barcelona. And then, the squad was further more strengthened and with the guidance of experienced Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea won the first ever Double(Premier League and FA Cup) in the 2009/10 season.

This proves that we must be patient and correct some things in order to get back to the top of domestic football and European football(And i mean by winning the premier league and Champions league). And the squad is pretty strong this season with many young players reaching to their best potential. But, with the club missing out on almost half of the available 8 trophies for this season, here are the 10 changes or events we expect to see this summer.

1. Rafa Benitez to leave the club after his interim stint ends:

Rafa Benitez was the most unpopular choice the club have appointed in history. Many fans were not happy to see club legend Roberto DiMatteo being sacked after just 6 months of winning the club’s first ever champions league trophy and replace him with a man who was a manager of a rival team, talked bad things about the passion of the fans. And Abramovic have seen the result as Benitez missed out on the club world cup and League Cup. It was the worst start in statics than any chelsea manager from the past. And we hope that he leaves this summer.

2. Jose Mourinho to return to Stamford Bridge!:

This will be the most exciting news all chelsea fans across the world want to see this summer. ‘The Special One’ has been rumored to fall out with Real Madrid’s top stars and even club president Florentino Perez. On Thursday of January 25, 2013 edition of Marca magazine, they revealed that if Mourinho fails to beat Man Utd in the last 16 leg of the champions league, he will part company with the Madrid club. Although Florentino Perez gave a public announcement that all the things that were reported were ‘false’. But, it is very unlikely that Mourinho will remain as manager of Real after this summer. And he have said before that his next destination after Real will be in England. And Stamford Bridge the most likely destination.

3. One or two big signings to boost the attack:

The one place that is weak in the squad is the striker position. We have Fernando Torres and Demba Ba at the moment. And Ba has been a very good signing for 7 million pounds but Torres have continued to misfire big chances and doesn’t seem to be ‘the man for the big occasion’ type of a player as of Didier Drogba. And we expect chelsea to sign one or two high profile signings this summer. Radamel Falcao, Robert Lewandowiski, Edison Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain will be the ideal players to boost our attack. Whether Torres decides to leave or stay, one of those players should be signed. And also lets not forget about Lukaku’s return from West Brom loan. Also I expect one or two Midfielders to be signed. My preferences will be Isco from Malaga and Joao Mourinho from Porto.

4. Frank Lampard to sign a new contract:

This is the most arguable and least expectancy of happening but i still believe that Abramovic will change his mind to give Lamps a new contract. If Mourinho returns, he surely would do anything to see his most preferred midfielder he have ever managed. We would also be happy to see Lampard retire at chelsea.

5. A future replacement for Ashley Cole would be signed:

In much delight to all chelsea fans, Ashley Cole has signed a one year extension at chelsea last Tuesday. And once he finishes the new contract, he will be 33 years old. So, we need to buy a quality left back to replace Cole. Although Bertrand is very good at his position, someone should give him competitions for the starting spot. Luke Shaw, Fabio Coentrao or Leighton Baines would be preferable signings.

6. Abramovic will give total control of club matters to the manager:

For the last 6 years, many managers have come and gone at Stamford bridge and Abramovic was quick to trigger the fire when he doesn’t like what he seeing. I have recently wrote an article about why Mourinho should be the perfect long term manager for Chelsea and stated this policy should change and managers should be given full control and time to implement their ideas. And chelsea missed out on Gardiola for this bold reason that he doesn’t want to be involved with such policy of running a football club. Instead he chose Bayern Munich who are much more stabilized team than chelsea when it comes to corporate manners. Unless this happens no manager would want to become a manager at chelsea and build a long lasting legacy like Ferguson did at Man Utd.

7. Summer Clearance:

With Paulo Ferrera being 34 years old, his contract expires at the end of the season. The same is the case for Henrique Hillario who is going to be 36 this year. Although no one doubts the contributions of Paulo through his time at Stamford bridge, Its time that he has to leave the club as a club legend after 9 years of service. When it comes to Hillario, we have got Thibout Cortois who is doing amazingly well at Athletico on-loan and reserve team keeper Jamal Blackman. And the other exception is Florent Malouda. He have revealed last week as to how he have been mistreated at Chelsea. He was forced to train and change with the academy players ever week. And none of his former team mates asked about him through this times. The senior squad leaders like Terry, Lampard, Cole and Cech should have urged the management to let Malouda train and be in the locker room with them. Its sad to see a player with over 100 appearances for the club be treated this way. They should have given him to Lille in part of Hazard’s deal to sway the move in our favor. But we aren’t sure what the executives were thinking at the time. So, we would like to say thank you and good luck to this players at the summer.

8. Loaned players to return and fill the gap:

As i mentioned above with the three experienced players leaving, we need top youngsters like Jeffrey Bruma, Thomas Kalas and Josh McEachran to return and fill the gap. They have been a top players for teams during this time getting a much needed taste of first team appearances under their belt. Also Romelu Lukaku is the one we would expect more to deliver from all players returning. And Josh McEachran is nearing his 20th birthday so its now or never to give a much needed opportunity. This is very vital to the future of the club to have home grown players.

9. Big Transfer Decision about Fernando Torres:

Fernando Torres have divided many opinions of chelsea fans this season as he failed to produce his top goal scoring form he had at Liverpool. Still, we support him as he is our player. But, with even Abramovic realizing we need another top striker to boost our attack further, their is a climax coming for Torres. Whether he will stay and fight for his place or decide to leave would be known this June. The club have got the bigger decision as he is earning too much for his form to justify it. And another scenario is that he might be offered as part of a deal to bring in Falcao to Stamford Bridge. But, we can come to conclusion that Torres is no longer the type of player he once was at Liverpool. For whatever the outcome, we would support him or thank him for his services once the decision is clear this summer.

10. Stadium plans and long-term plans:

I understand that stadium issues aren’t what is in our minds right now but it is important for the club to stay competitive and have no issues with the financial fair play rules. Last summer, the club had a plan to buy the Batter sea power stations, but a Malaysian company was chosen as the preferred bider to own the area. We hope that the club finds a closer site to Stamford Bridge and build a 60,000+ fans seater stadium or rebuild Stamford Bridge. And also we witnessed Chelsea signing agreements with many sponsor-ships to increase our annual income. It resulted in the first ever positive income since Roman Abramovic took over the club in 2003. So, it is exciting to see what other steps will be taken to improve the revenue and other sponsors of Chelsea.

And this are the things we expect to see of our club this summer. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment your opinions below.