Summertime Blues

Article by e-Chelsea's Robert Wake

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So the curtain falls on another Premiership season, which bought the usual highs and lows, tears and tantrums, and an unfortunate slip or two along the way.

Attentions will now turn to The World Cup, as once again the country becomes all patriotic for a week or two until reality bites, and England return home having under achieved again. It is about the time of England’s latest penalty shoot-out calamity that supporter’s thoughts turn back to their club, and the following season. Away goes the England top as the tacky car flags are consigned to the loft for another couple of years. The brand new home shirt costing a bargain £55 replaces the Three Lions as your favourite top, and you chat about how good that Iranian striker looks, and that we should buy him at all costs.

For Chelsea, it is likely to be a busy summer. Mourinho claims that we will be quiet in the transfer market, but in reality, we need to buy at least 4 players – a left-back, a central midfielder and a couple of forwards and that is before some likely high profile departures. Plenty of names have already be mentioned, Diego Costa, Mario Mandzukic, Roberto Firminio, Sami Khedira, Ivan Rakitic, Luke Shaw, Alberto Moreno and Filipe Luis to name a few, but Chelsea often sign a player that the well-informed press hacks haven’t even considered, and that will almost certainly happen again.

Then there is the issue of the players who may wish to leave, or the club may wish to move on. Fortunately John Terry has signed a new contract, but doubts remain over the futures of both Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard who are both out of contract this summer. As was the case with Juan Mata in January, a £30m + bid for David Luiz may well be looked upon favourably by the management, who would also consider bids for Jon Mikel Obi, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba, while Samuel Eto’o has already moved on, as the club attempts to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations.

There are a number of loan players whose futures need to be decided. The likes of Victor Moses, Marko Marin, Oriol Romeu and Gael Kakuta may well be sold to raise funds, while the club must also decide if youngsters Nathaniel Chalobah and Josh McEachran are better than the likes of Lewis Baker, John Swift, Nathan Ake and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who have performed admirably this season. One of Ryan Bertrand and Patrick Van Aanholt are likely to return, with the other being moved on. Mourinho recently spoke of having to carefully analyse the “successful loans” in regard to the make-up of next season’s squad. I believe he was referring to Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku and Thorgan Hazard who all have pressed strong claims for a return to their parent club. I feel that Courtois must return whether or not Petr Cech is fit enough to start next season. Quite simply, Courtois is among the top five goalkeepers in the world, and has to be given his chance at Chelsea. Similarly, Lukaku is better than any of the team’s current strikers, and should be recalled to our squad. Thorgan Hazard has been named as Belgian Player of The Year, and has seemingly jumped ahead of Lucas Piazon, Bertrand Traore and Christian Atsu. He may well be afforded opportunities during pre-season before a decision is taken on whether he returns to Chelsea, or is loaned out for another season.

It is likely to be a busy summer at Stamford Bridge. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

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