Chelsea FC spent a pretty lazy period when the winter transfer window opened. The manager knew that the squad was strong but was lacking a proper striker to support Fernando Torres and thus brought in Demba Ba from Newcastle. It came as a big surprise as we were thought to be on the brink of signing Radamel Falcao from Athletico Madrid, but Demba Ba came in and it was seen as a business well done. Even after the transfer window closed, the speculation linking us to Falcao hasn’t yet stopped. But do we actually need him? Let’s have a look at what our main objectives should be for the summer of 2013, area by area.
Goalkeeper: A position where Petr Cech is probably going to dominate proceedings for atleast 2-3 seasons more. However, after the departure of Carlo Cudicini, we are in dire need for a backup goalkeeper. Ross Turnbull and Henrique Hilario have been perfect professionals for us waiting in the stands for a chance, but we have to face facts as neither of them are good enough to challenge Petr Cech. So out main objective is to bring in a goalkeeper as an understudy for Petr Cech. We have two options, buy a player, or bring back a player from loan. We have two decent keepers’ on loan, 20 year olds, Matej Delac as well as Thibaut Courtois. However, Courtois has been considered as a long term replacement for Petr Cech and thus we have the option of giving opportunity to Matej Delac or maybe our youth products Sam Walker or Jamal Blackman.
I really don’t feel the necessity to buy a new player in this sector.
Defense: The Centre-back position has no space for recruitment. We have four solid Centre-backs in the form of John Terry, David Luiz, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic. And bringing in a fifth is not very intelligent. Nathan Ake will probably be sent out on loan.
At right back we have Cesar Azpilicuetta, Branislav Ivanovic and also new recruitment Wallace dos Santos.
For the left back, we have Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand and a possible return of Patrick Van AanHolt. I would had loved Chelsea to sign Luke Shaw from Southampton as the understudy for Ashley Cole, but that would be unfair for Ryan Bertrand and too much on Patrick van AanHolt, who recently declared that he intends on fighting Ashley Cole and Ryan Bertrand at Chelsea FC for the left back spot rather than move again on loan. But, for sure, one of Ryan or Patrick is going to have a loan spell for another season. I’d want Patrick to be given a chance, because, somewhy I believe he is better than Ryan Bertrand for the position. Moreover, we have youngsters like Kane and Billy Clifford waiting in the fringes for an opportunity, giving them a chance will do well too.
Again, I wouldn’t want a player to be signed in this sector.
Midfield: I’ll divide Midfield into two sectors, attacking and defensive.
Defensive Midfield: Our available options are, John Obi Mikel, Oriol Romeu, Ramires, David Luiz and hopefully Frank Lampard. That means, five players for two spots, pretty cramped eh? Bringing in Maroune Fellaini seemed to be a necessity for me in the recent past, however, he is a type of player who’d want to start each and every game, which would leave only one spot for five players, not acceptable at all. Moreover, Oscar might be played in this role too. But, if Frank Lampard will be asked to leave, we might just sign a young back-up or bring in another player from the youth academy. And let’s not forget, Joshua McEachran is waiting eagerly for his chance to impress the Chelsea faithful.
Attacking Midfield: Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Oscar, Victor Moses, Marko Marin and maybe Kevin De Bruyne. One of Marko Marin or De Bruyne is set to leave the Bridge on loan for experience. While Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda will be set free by the club. That means five players for three spots. Lucas Piazon might most possibly spend another season on loan. So there emerges a necessity to sign a youngster who won’t moan about to sit on the bench for long spells. For my love for Luke Shaw, I won’t mind signing him and trying to mould him into a new Gareth Bale, which he is very much capable of. He would also serve a cover for left back, if one of Ryan Bertrand or Patrick are sent out on loan, and he will quite possibly perform better than Ryan Bertrand in the midfield role.
On a conclusion, I’d love to see us sign Luke Shaw, for midfield, not defense as the priority.
Attack: We have Demba Ba, Romelu Lukaku and Fernando Torres. Among these, Lukaku will probably be granted another season on loan, and I feel Torres is going to leave the club, maybe as a part deal for Radamel Falcao from Athletico Madrid. Personally I don’t want us to sign another big name signing, fearing the fate that Torres and Shevchenko met with. Moreover, he is already 27, which is not much bad if you argue, we might just squeeze out 4-5 excellent seasons out of him. But I’d want Chelsea to go for someone of the Ba-class, meaning, who are doing pretty well, but not too popular. Enter, Jackson Martinez. The 6ft 1in striker from Porto is a beast in the forward line. For his huge frame, he is quite agile and lightning quick (as per the words of a commentator). This season he has scored 28 goals already from just 31 games. And if you consider the cost aspect, Radamel might cost us 50m+, while Jackson can be brought in for less than 25m. But even he’d want the starting spot rather than warming the bench.
Our overall activity in the forwards department might be as Torres leaving, Lukaku leaving on loan, and Jackson/Falcao coming in with Ba already there. That means two players for one spot. Add to that one of our youngsters, Feruz Islam, Patrick Bamford or maybe Milan Lalkovic. It will be a really impressive strike force.
Conclusion, bring in one striker, maybe Radamel Falcao, or Jackson Martinez and let go off Torres permanently and Lukaku on loan.
Manager: The most interesting sector for debate is up! Benitez will surely leave the club, leaving room for either Jose Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini, Jurgen Klopp or David Moyes to join up Chelsea. For me, it has to be between Klopp and Jose, but with Klopp already rejecting our advances, Jose Mourinho has to be it. It has been a complicated love story between Jose and Chelsea through ages, and this would be the perfect ending leading to a magical beginning.
Final Conclusion: Bring in Luke Shaw and Radamel Falcao/ Jackson Martinez, and a new manager like Klopp or Jose Mourinho, who can gel all of our gems properly. To be frank, we are lying to ourselves saying we have a weak squad, with no depth. This squad on its best day can beat the best of teams, without much hassles. The only thing is that not all players perform on the level that they are expected to. But it is not right on our part to wanting to always sign big names for both economic as well as ethical reasons. We are not a club who should be concentrating only on winning trophies, but also on giving birth to players who will make us proud of in the future.
The squad for 2013-14 should be as follow:
GK: Petr Cech, Matej Delac, Jamal Blackman
Def: Azpilicuetta, Ivanovic, David Luiz, Gary Cahill, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Patrick Van AanHolt/Ryan Bertrand, Wallace Dos Santos
Mid: Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar Dos Santos, Kevin De Bruyne/Marko Marin, Victor Moses, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Mikel, Oriol Romeu, Luke Shaw
Att: Demba Ba, Jackson Martinez/ Radamel Falcao, Patrick Bamford/Islam Feruz/ Milan Lalkovic
Interesting post 🙂
🙂
Mourinho is not coming to chelsea
never be so sure abt it…it might just happen in the end!
Totally agree with the conclusion 🙂
thnx mate
🙂
You are having a laugh about luke skaw! I agree with most of the things you said but for me we need another player in the mould of mata because we are quite dependent on him playing to do well in a game. My suggestion to your squad would be Isco instead of shaw. And perhaps a CM in the form of moutinho.
But above all I wish for only 3 things 1) Lampard 2) Mourinho 3) Falcao
Bringing in Isco means fewer playing time for both Marko/Kevin and Moses. Eden and Mata are going to be favored over them…so I meant we need a low profile yet promising youngster.
And yes, Luke Shaw is something I hope of, and thats all my own view.
🙂
i think Maroune Fellaini, Jackson martinez could be a great signingst o add to our squad and a defender, but i don’t know who , a difficult task for me to find a good one similar like terry
centre backs, we already have lots, four already in our squad, and for our future chalobah, Kalas and Bruma are working hard on their loan spells.
Mou is coming back!!!
Hope so, and hope that if he does come, he stays for long long time.
fellaini, falcao, mourinho and isco in
marin, torres, benayoun, benitez and malouda out
I’d want to give Marin a chance.
Never let marin go but hope to get facao,fellain,shaw if d deal clint in but give van a chance n loan out ryan b. That’s it.
What of piazon,thorgan and kakuta
Piazon and Thorgan Hazard stay on loan, Kakuta is old enough to fight for his place or be sold. He’s showing enough at Vitesse to suggest he might have a role to play in Chelsea’s future but he won’t get much first team football here, so it might be best for all parties if, for example, he stays at Vitesse permanently and we get Wilfried Bony, maybe with £5m compensation to Vitesse.
the trio will surely be out on loan again!
We need another centre back b’coz we play Ivanovic @ right back, cahill and JT in the middle and luiz in midfeild. what if something happened to them? and JT is always injured. we need Subotic.
We don’t need anymore signings in the defense and midfield areas. I do think we should sell both Ba and Torres because they’re not the type of strikers we want in this new system. Players like Suarez and Neymar who actually join in with the build up play and move around alot.
I’m not saying we should buy those players but their type. Strikers like Ba and Torres aren’t in the game and therefor lack chances which is bad for their momentum. Am I wrong or am I right?
IMO you are mostly right. Torres is the type of striker we need, but we need a huge upgrade on him. The problem with Torres is that he drops too deep and tries too hard to be involved in the build-up. Because the midfield pushes up so high, there is no space at all to work in and it is impossible to slip through balls in to Torres, which is what the team is set up to do. If Torres stayed on the shoulder of the last man a bit more, and Lampard and Ramires did not push up so high, I’m sure we’d see much more attacking potency. What I’m not saying is that Torres will score 35-40 goals per season, but 25 is realistic.
And you are right about Ba, he is something of a misfit. Lukaku is an upgrade on both Torres and Ba, and I think he would be very effective playing in front of Mazacar. He does not really get involved with link-up play, but he loves to run at defenders with his pace and power, and he makes good runs for his midfielders to slip in through balls.
I’d say you are right that Torres and Ba don’t really work and probably should be sold, but I’m not sure that a Suarez or Neymar is the answer; they get involved too much. Lukaku might be perfect, and if you want something more polished, I’d say Cavani.
You are right but we need midfielders
I honestly think Feruz should be given a first team chance or sent on loan.He has been really impressive and he needs first team experience -here or else where. And Marin must be loaned out too. De bruyne MUST start playing for us next season-he is an amazing talent and I would love to see him in the blue shirt! 🙂
I agree with you! Though i would like Feruz to play for Chelsea it self!
I would prefer sending De bruyne on loan than Marin!
Lukaku should be given a chance next season. The only players chelsea should buy are Luke shaw, a inexpensive reliable striker, and maybe Isco. Another idea is Garth Bale. Chelsea have only one true winger in Moses and I could really see him thrive here. Not to mention he is a world class player. Downside is that Tottenham won’t let him go cheap. Also the next chelsea manager should be someone who knows how to utilize our massive resources and incorporate our youth academy players into the first team.
Forget about Gareth Bale.Agree with most of the points except two: Jackson Martinez
vs Falcao. I’ve watched both closely..Falcao is the better striker.Movement,
poise and calmness when about to score,and incredibly fast.I’ll go for Jackson only
if Falcao does not come.The other point I disagree with U on is regarding Lampard
If we keep Lampard,do NOT make him a DM.Push him further up behind the strikers
because of his knack for goals.He’ll be older and wont have the lungs to go up and down.
We should get TRUE DM/CM’s so if we’re gonna use Lampard it’ll be when we are
looking for goals.
Pa
First of all, we need Lukaku
He definitely should be in our plans for the new season, We should get rid of Torres and buy someone like Martinez/Bony, Falcao would be a huge risk with fair play coming in.
I’m a big fan of Isco, I think we should definitely get him but then someone would have to leave.
We would have Mata,Hazard,Moses,Marin,Kakuta,Oscar,Isco,Debruene
Perhaps De Breune another season at Bremen, or Marin/Kakuta loaned out
If all goes well, I would like to see McEachran become one of our most important players, What we need is a deep-lying playmaker(Xavi,Alonso,Pirlo) and he could fill that out
As backup, Ramires/Lampard/Oscar
Defensive midfield, Romeu/Mikel/Essien/Luiz
The debate about Shaw? I think we should buy him but send him on loan, after all he’s only 17
VAanholt or Bertrand sent on loan,(preferably Bertrand)
And after the Cole era, if both of them aren’t good enough we have Shaw, When Shaw becomes 21(4 years) we bring him back sell the worse of the VA, Bertrand and have one and Shaw fight for the starting spot
I seriously doubt we can play Shaw in midfield, he comes from the same academy as Bale, that doesn’t mean hes the same player
In defence we have Bruma come back, with injures and the ability to play our other center backs in different positions(Ivan,Luiz) , we could make it work with 5 CBs
We don’t need a goalkeeper, we should get just get one back from loan or academy to challenge Cech until Courtois comes of age
wow! impressive!
thanks ^^
All things codeenirsd, this is a first class post
A few years ago I’d have to pay someone for this information.
On paper our squad has depth but please remember 18 of our players are on loan so our depth isn’t great atm
good conclusion
Very interesting pay and happy conclusion ,,,,, last of all,I wish your conclusion really happens……
Sorry,I mean….. interesting POST
ty mate…hope it really happens!
and you forgot about ESSIEN doing great at REALMADRID!! HA
Get ppl back from loan and buy Isco and get Mourinho. Thats more than enuf..
We have to give chance to islam feruz…he can be our next legend…he is a wonderful striker…dnt give lukaku next season on loan…bring him home next season…we’ll need him…give chance to de bruyne and mceachran…dnt sale courtois ..we’ll need him after cech…and i am agree with ur falcao view…we need striker like martinez..
Valid point you make except the left back role I genuinely do not think Ryan Bertrand is Chelsea quality so I’d get rid of him buy Luke Shaw, now he is class but we can loan him out for his development and use Van Aanhold as an understudy to A Cole.
In the midfield bring in Isco I like him reminds me alot of Jack Wilshere and we all know he is briiliant, but that gives us a problem as to what will be our best midfield be, so much talent and class but I think Josh could be our Pirlo so to speak he has an idea for a pass. Now the attacking midfield will be a problem for anyone to pick between Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Isco, Marin, Moses, De bryane and potential Lampard ofcos assuming in the defensive midfield role we use Josh, ramires, Essien, Mikel, Romeu and David Luiz, so it will be a huge task to pick the best starting 11.
This position is a problem position for me I think Drogba spoiled us because in him we knew we had a saviour regardless of how the rest of the team was performing so it is an issue to replace him. But I do not see the need for Falcao but ofcos we do need someone in that position, may I propose we graduate Feruz into the first team permanently ease him in but keep him in and around the first team he is brlliant and someone said something about a Suarez kind of player and he is, so use him. Oviously sense would say we keep Lukaku aswell give him a chance he deserves it. Get rid of Torres that one doesn’t need a genius to work out. From there bring in a striker who won’t cost us an arm and a leg so we don’t need to spend big, infact its the worsed thing we could possible do.
And I vote for the special one to return although I wonder if he will be able to work with the youngsters I think Klopp would be perfect for this role though but he already turned us down.
Cfc re d only club dat wil buy a telented youth play wit big money but at d end, dey wil neva b of use 2 d club wich we d fans dnt appreciate. D big name playa started 4m sum wia eg playa lyk messi started 4m youth tim at barca. However cfc shud try and b gv dos youth playa chance in d liv of(hazard,feruz,josh,van aaholt,piazon,kalac,da vila,chalobah e.t.c
i luv d team badly
I like this idea i think it will be better if chelseafc bring this new players in.
falcao
i would love to see lukaku mceachran and kakuta play for chelsea this year
and sell mikel remou benayoun malouda and bruma they offer nothing to chelsea and get abit of money off them hopefully
falcao is not coming to chelsea,… i suggest we should gives the youth chance,and at thesame time we need to collect more trophy.let tores stay and mourinho should come in..i believe Ba will improve. up blue
let mourinho came back
let terry stay 4 another season
chelsea must buy lewandoski