Mourinho Goes Window Shopping: A Look At Potential Chelsea January Transfer Targets
As we digest our turkey and Christmas pudding, many football fans thoughts turn to how their club can improve their squad in the upcoming January transfer window. Rumours in the press have been many and various, with differing levels of credibility assigned to each. The fans will continue to speculate, but the chances are that many deals have already been agreed between clubs, players and of course, agents.
So what do Chelsea need? For what it’s worth, I believe Chelsea are perhaps three major signings, a defender, a midfielder and a forward, away from being potential champions.
A central defender would be a useful addition, but of the three requirements, this is the one that could conceivably wait until the summer, unless of course, Chelsea decides to cash in on the enigma that is David Luiz. It would appear that Mourinho has settled on John Terry and Gary Cahill as his preferred pairing at the back, which leaves Luiz with a bit-part role in the lead up to a World Cup played in his homeland. Barcelona are known admirers of Luiz, and a concrete bid in excess of £30 million could persuade Chelsea to sell. If Chelsea do decide to reinforce or replace in defence then Inter’s towering centre back Andrea Ranocchia could be top of Jose’s wish-list. At 25-years old and standing 6ft 5 inches, the Italian International could prove a useful acquisition for The Blues.
A more pressing concern for Jose however is a midfielder to ease the burden on the over-worked Ramires and the ageing Frank Lampard. The unfortunate injury to Marco Van Ginkel, has left Chelsea rather thin on numbers to play in the double-pivot, as both Jon Mikel Obi and Michael Essien lack the required mobility and dynamism to perform the role effectively. Whilst Chelsea do have a number of talented youngsters both at the club and out on loan, they need somebody now to fill the void created by Van Ginkel’s injury. Colombian Fredy Guarin, also currently at Inter has been strongly linked with a move to Stamford Bridge in January, and the powerful midfielder could just be a good fit.
Despite Mourinho’s repeated denials, it seems likely that Chelsea will invest in a forward during the window. Quite simply, Demba Ba, Samuel Eto’o and Fernando Torres have not scored enough goals. Chelsea need a striker to finish off the chances that are regularly created, and just as often spurned. Mourinho is correct when he says that we fail to kill the opponent when on top, and it appears a change of striker may be the only way to resolve this issue. Jackson Martinez of FC Porto and Radamel Falcao at Monaco are both team-mates of Fredy Guarin for Colombia, but neither would come cheap. Both men are 27 years old, and are both natural finishers. For me, Falcao is the better option. Put simply he has the X factor, would be available to play in the Champions League, and intriguingly shares the same agent as a certain Jose Mourinho.
To make space in the squad, Chelsea are likely to look to offload Demba Ba and Kevin De Bruyne either permanently or on loan, while the futures of Juan Mata, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Samuel Eto’o and Mark Schwarzer are likely to be decided in the summer.
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