Who should Chelsea buy?

[RX8 40]

Goal.com Summer Shopping: Who should Chelsea buy?

Goal.com's transfer series focuses on England's double champions...

By Alex Dimond

30 Jun 2010 13:55:00

Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea Manager

Coming off the back of the club's first ever double-winning season, it is hard to suggest that the Chelsea squad currently at Carlo Ancelotti's disposal needs too much of a facelift.

He has quality in the majority of positions in his first XI and, with reports suggesting Real Madrid manager-elect Jose Mourinho will not move to sign Frank Lampard again this summer, it is looking as though the Italian won't have to worry about persuading his main stars to remain at Stamford Bridge during the close season.

However, there are a couple of reasons to suggest that Ancelotti will be more active in this transfer window than he was in January — when he famously pledged to run around the club's training ground naked if he signed anyone (he didn't). As critics have long been quick to point out, the team's average age is not getting any younger, and the former AC Milan coach will undoubtedly look to buy in some long-term successors to the likes of Didier Drogba and Lampard sooner rather than later.

As Joe Cole, Deco, Juliano Belletti and even Michael Ballack (all important contributors at times throughout the Premier League campaign) will not be there again next season, Ancelotti will also need to find a replacement or two for next year's title defence.

The Italian has already promised to blend "four or five" academy graduates into his first team squad, which will cover gaps in some areas. But with Roman Abramovich seemingly willing to finance certain signings in this window despite his continuing aim of self-sufficiency, it seems probable that Ancelotti will look to spend most of the minimum £22 million (the club's total spend last summer) that will almost certainly be made available to him over the next few months.

Goalkeepers

The club are fully stocked in this position, with No.1 Petr Cech coming off the back of a solid season (jointly leading the Premier League in clean sheets along with Liverpool's Jose Reina), and with two fine understudies in Henrique Hilario and Ross Turnbull.

Hilario might even be sold if a surprising offer comes in during or after the World Cup (he is in Portugal's squad) — especially as young Croatian Matej Delac will finally arrive at the club to start his quest to be Cech's long-term successor.

Defence

This is another area where Ancelotti is going to be in no hurry to make additions — simply because he doesn't need to. Ashley Cole and Yury Zhirkov proved themselves this season to be two fine left-back options in Ancelotti's system, while Branislav Ivanovic and the (hopefully) fit-again Jose Bosingwa — who will seem like a new signing after missing almost the entire campaign last season — offer the same luxury on the opposite flank.

Central defence might be a weakness, with only three solid first-team options (John Terry, Alex and Ricardo Carvalho) to call upon, and at least two of them having valid injury concerns.

Ivanovic can obviously come across to play his preferred position in the centre if needs be, but Ancelotti might look to add a young stopper to his ranks (at the right price), although academy graduates Jeffrey Bruma and Sam Hutchinson undoubtedly have the ability to be versatile back-ups, something they showed on occasion last season.

If he does choose to add a centre-back, he may well head to Italy for his shopping. Azzurri World Cup squad member Leonardo Bonucci might be of interest to Ancelotti, especially as he combined with Andrea Ranocchia at unfashionable Bari on loan last season to keep the best defensive record in Serie A (until the latter got injured).

Napoli's Fabiano Santacroce might be another target, but Ancelotti is unlikely to demand the club part with the £10m-plus that might be needed to land either of those targets, especially as they are destined primarily to warm the bench in major games for a few seasons.

Midfield

This is the first area that obviously needs strengthening. Like Bosingwa, the return of Michael Essien next season will feel like having a new signing, but even with him to call upon Ancelotti will surely look to add another defensive midfielder to the squad — especially as two players he adapted to the role last season, Ballack and Belletti, could be leaving in the summer, while another, Mikel, proved not ideally suited to the position last season.

Roma's Daniele De Rossi might be Ancelotti's ideal signing, but again the price tag and reported interest of Real Madrid will probably scupper any chance of a deal. Yaya Toure of Barcelona might have been a more affordable option (similarly Moussa Sissoko of Toulouse) but has opted for Manchester City's riches instead. Bayern's Bastian Schweinsteiger has hinted he might leave the club in the next few months, in which case Chelsea would be foolish not to sound out a deal.

Wigan Athletic's Mohamed Diame could be an eminently attainable option if Ancelotti prefers to stay in the division, especially as Everton's Jack Rodwell has committed his long-term future to the Goodison Park club — but if no target is landed Nemanja Matic is another player ready to step up to regular first-team action.

Ancelotti might also have designs on reintroducing the diamond again next season, a formation that could certainly work more effectively with the addition of a natural trequartista to play at the tip.

Yossi Benayoun has been strongly linked, but Palermo's Javier Pastore might be a surprise target for the Blues — the emerging Argentine has been likened to Kaka who, as no-one will need reminding, flourished under Ancelotti at Milan — and showed in his first season in European football that he has the necessary skills to be a great success.

With Palermo missing out on Champions League football, the 20-year-old could be an attractive option for the club at around £15m (nearly double what Palermo paid for his services last summer), and if he has a decent World Cup surely Abramovich will have no problem signing off on the deal.

If Ancelotti hasn't got any designs on returning to the diamond, another solid central midfielder will still be somewhere high on his wishlist. Napoli's Marek Hamsik has all the qualities Ancelotti might look for — physical enough to cope with the Premier League, and with the raw talent to grow into Frank Lampard's long-term successor. The club looked hard at the young Slovakian before January; now might be the time to make a bid for the £18m-rated creative midfielder.

Attack

With both Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba getting on in age, Chelsea clearly need to add a quality striker to the mix, which has seen them linked with players of the quality of Alexandre Pato, Sergio Aguero, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez in recent weeks or months.

A deal for one of those stars is not impossible (with the first two being most probable) but the expense might be somewhat prohibitive, especially as Abramovich can point to the likes of Salomon Kalou, Daniel Sturridge and even Fabio Borini as players who can have greater roles next season.

But let's face it — goals were hardly a problem for Chelsea last year, and with time to sit on the bench while Drogba and Anelka play out their final few years, 17-year-old star-in-the-making Romelu Lukaku could pique Ancelotti's interest. The Anderlecht man has been compared to Drogba for obvious physical reasons, and might be bought — with a loan-back arrangement — for around £10m.

If Valencia finally realise their financial situation really is as bad as everyone else seems to think it is, then Pablo Hernandez or Juan Mata might become options.

IN (3): Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Romelu Lukaku (Anderlecht), Yaya Toure (Barcelona)

OUT (3): Di Santo, Cork, Rajkovic.

LOANS OUT (4): Lukaku, Borini, van Aanholt, Sala.

Preferred Line-Up (4-3-3)

----------------Cech

Ivanovic Alex Terry A. Cole

----------------Essien

-------Hamsik Lampard

Anelka Malouda

---------------Drogba

Edited June 30, 2010 by RX8

[RX8 40]

In my personal point of view

We don have problem in the back... We have Great Goal Keeper and Defense players... and That include Bruma and Hutchinson.

In the midfield... we have to invest a lot for 2 reason...

1- We need fresh player that start learning Chelsea System, adapt and know the players style...

2- We let go Belleti, Ballack and J. Cole all Midfields

Here is the Trick for midfield....

Essien has being the most complete player we ever see in Futbol, he can play all defense positions and maybe all Midfield,... So Maybe Anchelotti is thinking that Essien can play Attacking midfield and he may need them a back Midfield... wish I see posible Only if Yaya Toure may come... and I see this almost no posible right now... Unless we have made a move in the las 2 days...

We also need to get a player that learn from Frank Lampard we still may have 2 o 3 year of top level futbol so we need a creative Rol... is hard to see a player like Lampard but we have to start looking for him. Hamsik is a posibility, so as Kaka (Unlikely)

In the best days of Joe Cole, he is like Molouda in the Right side.... and my main concert is that we let go Stoch... and he was the perfect replacement for him... (Still don´t get it) So we need a placer of his qualitys.. maybe Kun Aguero is the man... has Forward skill and Attacking Midfield also, and he can play in 4-3-3 and also 4-4-2

In the Forward deparment I thing Anelka and Drogba can Perfect 3 o 2 more years.... I like Studerrige i Thing he has a lot of future... Chelsea has 2 type of Forward players... Drogba Type... Point Forward.... his job is to Score and the Anelka type Wish is Mixed... Can play as a Point Forward or Win man of the point Forward... atracting defenses and Scoring if the chance comes... In this deparment the only logical sustitute of any of those is Fernando Torres. Our main Rival is Farza... Like Villa his love for Spain again, but here is the Trick... Ibraimovich may not go away from Barcelona and that let Torres with no space so we can try to get him specialy if Gerard go to Real Madrid. We all know Abramovich is looking for him for a while, City will not represent a problem because of the CL There is also the posibility with Ibra... my problem with him is his actitud.,... is to Egocentric he may creat a Negative enviroment in the team... and less Anchelotti can control him.

The other type of Forwards are the Dribbles and Scoring type... We don´t have this type and are very rare to see them... like MEssi.... Like Ribery ( renew Bayer Contract, Never want to come anyway )or Robben (To Crystal).... My only posible player is Sergio Aguero... there is also Tevez... but he is not avaible, we loose the chance. Aguero is not messi but he may be a close version of messi I belive he just need the Right Team... and I thing Chelsea is...

So that´s What I see.

PD: I just was Dreaming... Because Chelsea in the last 4 years... has let me Down in the Transfer Market.. Specialy Because we always loose agains any other Club

Edited June 30, 2010 by RX8

[Term-X 7,891]

[zolayes 14,489]

im not greedy will settle for aguerro and OUR young players

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I'm kind of sick of these articles (no offence to the poster..) but we don't actually need to buy anyone. Least of all these big names that are being named.. Would they be a good edition to the squad? Yes, but should we waste money on new players instead of developing our youth? No!

With each new transfer that comes through, who's a guaranteed starter, another player from our youth system will go. I don't blame Stoch for leaving, now that we think about it. He's a starter for Slovakia and probably will be for Fenerbahce. Could we say the same for him at Chelsea? Nope.

I personally think, we have a good side right now. We don't need a big "marquee signing". The signing of Yuri Zhirkov was what I like to call a "wise signing", he's a player who's not a big star, but is needed as a backup left-back (which we needed, when Ashley got injured) who can operate in left-wing attack (So if Malouda was to get injured).

Instead of articles like "Who should Chelsea buy?" there should be things like "Who should Chelsea promote from their academy?", but media outlets such as Goal.com will not do this because they know people can easily be brainwashed into thinking Chelsea HAVE TO sign big players.

[RX8 40]

I'm kind of sick of these articles (no offence to the poster..) but we don't actually need to buy anyone. Least of all these big names that are being named.. Would they be a good edition to the squad? Yes, but should we waste money on new players instead of developing our youth? No!

With each new transfer that comes through, who's a guaranteed starter, another player from our youth system will go. I don't blame Stoch for leaving, now that we think about it. He's a starter for Slovakia and probably will be for Fenerbahce. Could we say the same for him at Chelsea? Nope.

I personally think, we have a good side right now. We don't need a big "marquee signing". The signing of Yuri Zhirkov was what I like to call a "wise signing", he's a player who's not a big star, but is needed as a backup left-back (which we needed, when Ashley got injured) who can operate in left-wing attack (So if Malouda was to get injured).

Instead of articles like "Who should Chelsea buy?" there should be things like "Who should Chelsea promote from their academy?", but media outlets such as Goal.com will not do this because they know people can easily be brainwashed into thinking Chelsea HAVE TO sign big players.

No offence taked my Friend.... That´s the point of the topic Talk about it...

I understand your point of view and in some way I Agree.... My problem with Stoch is that this reflecs we do not have a North in this matters...

How much Money and time do you thing we have Spend in Hutchinson, Kakuta, Stoch, Di Santo, Mancien, Bruma and the Rest of Kids??? A lot.... When Abramovich came in... the School was one of the First thing to be Reestableced... So at this point 10 years later we should be see New Player... But what happend.... Di Santo Almost Out, Stoch out, Mancien had played for more teams than Chelsea... And the rest just Keep train to get in the first team... but I do not see any Coach putting the money on them... and Taking the Chances...Why.,.. because si simple... if a coach Fail He is out... No time to deliver... We always need tittle to feal we are ok... other ways... Heads will rol

We have to be clear about... Or we are a Buyer Team... Developer Team or Mixed.....

I thing People thing we are a Buyer.... team.... Don´t bleam them We buy a lot... But God No the way people in Media said... every Big name is liked to us and for an overpayed price... even Players use as to increase the value. So someone explain to me The media always lay of we are to soft to get any of those player because we always loose agains Other team... I you Know What... I Hate that because it make my Feal we are always the last choice for them.

We are by Faqs not a Developer Team.... No Kids has made impact in the Team Except Terry .... 1 in 10 Years... Not good enough

Mixed means that we buy some not Stars player and we create them as it..... For what i Can see It is what "LDN Blue" is saying and we I thing the Faqs said too.... Examples

Michael Essien, came as Good Player... Great player in Chelsea

Drogba came as Very Good player.... Top Score Forward in Chelsea

Frank Lampard Good Player.... On of the most Important Midfields in Hystori of Chelsea and a Great Playmaker

Joe Cole Good Player..... So much Better in Chelsea.... not so good a the end.

Anelka Very Good player.... Could Find a stable Team..... We get the best of him for us...

Alex Good Defense.... He is what now at Chelsea Siemple as a Defense Wall

Etc... etc...

If that is the case.. then.....

How can Anchelotti and Roman Thing that we can Win the CL if we are in a point where we need to rebuild and Fine new padaguan (Star wars) to become Jedi (First Class Players), With teams like Barcelona And Real Madrid on the way full of Top player can not compite one of one so simple...

If we want the CL we need big Names... and Pay for the best to get the best...

If we want to be the best team we hace to develop the best players.

[Matterz 67]

I'm kind of sick of these articles (no offence to the poster..) but we don't actually need to buy anyone. Least of all these big names that are being named.. Would they be a good edition to the squad? Yes, but should we waste money on new players instead of developing our youth? No!

With each new transfer that comes through, who's a guaranteed starter, another player from our youth system will go. I don't blame Stoch for leaving, now that we think about it. He's a starter for Slovakia and probably will be for Fenerbahce. Could we say the same for him at Chelsea? Nope.

I personally think, we have a good side right now. We don't need a big "marquee signing". The signing of Yuri Zhirkov was what I like to call a "wise signing", he's a player who's not a big star, but is needed as a backup left-back (which we needed, when Ashley got injured) who can operate in left-wing attack (So if Malouda was to get injured).

Instead of articles like "Who should Chelsea buy?" there should be things like "Who should Chelsea promote from their academy?", but media outlets such as Goal.com will not do this because they know people can easily be brainwashed into thinking Chelsea HAVE TO sign big players.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying, I think it would be fantastic to bring in our youth, it is also great that we have reduced our wage bill and taht some of the older players have left. While I have no doubt about the ability of our youth coming through to perform, I just do not believe that we can simply replace the quality and experience of players like Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco, Belletti and possibly Carvalho and Ferreira with youth players. In fairness most of those names just mentioned were not regular starters last season, with the exception of maybe Ballack, but there is no doubt that without them we have a weaker squad than last year and it is the squad that will win you a league not your first 11. I also agree that signing players like Zhirkov is definately the way to go and i believe he will shine this season for Chelsea. However I still feel that some of the vacancies in the squad now should be filled with on or two new signings and the rest with youth players. Chelsea was missing a certain spark in the midfield, that was meant to be provided by Deco or Joe Cole, and I think Ozil could be that player, as too could be Van Der Vaart. Also a right sided attacking player who can provided something different to Anelka, someone with pace, can cross and dribble and run at defenders (Like Robben used to do so well for us) and to be honest not many players like this come to mind. Aguero seems to be a favourite of Chelsea fans and myself included and would love him to come in. I do also believe that we will miss Ballacks steel and presence in the midfield as well and to me there is only one player suitable to replace him and that would be Schweinsteiger.

So in summary I would promote a lot of youth players, probably 4 or 5 (As Carlo has said he will)

I would let Carvalho go and possibly Ferreira

I would bring in three players, a Central Midfielder, an Attacking Midfielder and a Right sided attacking player:

Central Midfielder: Schweinsteiger

Attacking Midfielder: Ozil

Right Front Man: Aguero

Highly unlikely that will happen, but I can dream cant I?

Your point on Big signings coming in and having to be starters, I agree that, that does happen, however with the 3 above mentioned players, two of them are 21 years old which means we can ease them into first team action and still develop their games, only Schweinsteiger would start most games. To me this would give us the most complete squad we have ever had, and bring down the average age, and incorporate our youth, and make the fans happy, and hopefully win us some silver too.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

I honestly think that for Chelsea to actually prevail, that we/they need to start bringing our own youngsters into the first team. In order for Chelsea to reach the standard of Man Utd is to have more John Terry's into the team, instead of selling them off before they have the oppertunity for even break into the starting 11. Players like Cork and Stoch are going to find the potential at other clubs, when they could have been reaching them here but because we are stubborn to bring in anyone new into a working part of the team, instead of letting them work into another team.

Bruma, Kakuta and Borini are the ones that really shine into my eyes, as well as Mancienne and Hutchinson who have waited so long to break into will get that chance with Carlo then under whoever.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,494]

i think we could still challenge for the Premiership with what we have already got and no additions...but if we run with what we got in the champions league we would struggle very hard to win it i think....i`m all for giving youth a chance..but i do think we could do with adding somebody like Aguero or Ozil..somebody who is both young,yet still experienced and will give us something we haven`t already got..(tho Kakuta could be as good as Aguero & Ozil when he becomes their age) ...i don`t want us to buy for the sake of it ,and i could honestly accept and support it if Carlo and co decided to buy nobody this summer..but getting somebody like Aguero or Ozil..somebody who are extremely gifted players but hungry enough to fulfil their mass potential if they came to a bigger club like ours. are the only kind of players i think we should go for...and i think Carlo and finally Roman now..feels the same.

Edited July 2, 2010 by BlueDrew

[HRiver 1,512]

I think we should get Schweinsteiger, Ozil and Aguero. We really need one new midfielder or two, and Aguero in the attack. Would like to see at least one of these happen this summer.

[zolayes 14,489]

I think we should get Schweinsteiger, Ozil and Aguero. We really need one new midfielder or two, and Aguero in the attack. Would like to see at least one of these happen this summer.

we certainly wont get more than one of these three ... personally I would rather we had a transitional period and GIVE OUR YOUTH a chance ..

they can only gain experience by PLAYING

[Banned member 97]

well i always thought aguero should be a first priority .... and i will still be thrilled if we get him ... but now after lettingf ballack deco joecole and belleti go ... i mean four midfielders we fall short in that area ...... we only have three players there essien mikel and lamps .......

i know malouda can play there as well but its not his place plus i would rather keep him as a left winger as he is great there ..... also i know we have matic which is a great prospect but what if essien got injured as usual matic is not ready to be in the starting eleven every week yet ......

and for benayoun i try as much as i can to act as if he never came to chelsea and i hope i won't see his ugly stupid face at all next season i would rather burn five millions than have this cunt with us .... so we are out of options ........

[Randall 315]

EDIT: nevermind.

I hope we sign Ozil. I love that kid.

Edited July 8, 2010 by Randall

[termninja 5,290]

GK : GK position is quite secure, though some young talented GK would be nice since Hilario is old, and Turnbull...well we saw him on pre season friendlies. I just can't imagine him standing on our goal in a Champions League match (in case Cech gets hurt).

As for DF, I just hope Bosingwa gets finally fit and starts playing. Maybe 1 CB would be good since Carvalho left, but if Bosingwa recovers Ivanovic can play as CB and Paulo Fereira as a backup RB.

MID : Well now, Ramires and Benayoun are here, and J.Cole, Ballack and Deco left. Lampard and Essien can give good perfomances as CMs, but in my opinion we need a DM such as De Jong, Van Bommel, Mascherano and similar, though Mikel is alright.

ATT : 1 good proven attacker would be a nice addition, like Aguero, Lukaku, Neymar, Torres, Suarez, Muller, Ibrahimovic and similar players, but for example if we'd sign Aguero, besides spending alot of money we still couldn't play him as a CF in 4-3-3, but for this season Drogba and Sturridge can do a nice job. Sturridge should learn from Drogba as much as he can. Also, Kakuta should get chances more, since he's one of the most talented French players out there.

Conclusion : As for this season, I think that there won't be any big signings for Chelsea and that Ancelotti wants to use team repeat last season with more organized playing since players know each other more now. After this season, I predict that there will be one big signing for Chelsea at least.

[Vincent 402]

What about Subotic?

[chrismada9 1,948]

As for DF, I just hope Bosingwa gets finally fit and starts playing. Maybe 1 CB would be good since Carvalho left, but if Bosingwa recovers Ivanovic can play as CB and Paulo Fereira as a backup RB.

Bosingwa trained with the Chelsea squad on Friday, so hopefully, he's making a speedy recovery. As for the CB position at the moment, I don't think we need anyone. We have plenty of options at the back in case one or two players gets injured. Brano plays right back and centre back, we have Alex and Terry as world class centrebacks, and we have the best left back in the world in Ashley Cole, with Yuri Zhirkov as a rather impressive second choice.

[termninja 5,290]

Bosingwa trained with the Chelsea squad on Friday, so hopefully, he's making a speedy recovery. As for the CB position at the moment, I don't think we need anyone. We have plenty of options at the back in case one or two players gets injured. Brano plays right back and centre back, we have Alex and Terry as world class centrebacks, and we have the best left back in the world in Ashley Cole, with Yuri Zhirkov as a rather impressive second choice.

Well as I said, everything depends on Bosingwa.

[Luke 60]

IMO, we dont need to sign anyone else.