This season is our worst season since a long time and changes are needed.
Last night we got kicked out of the Champions League what means we won’t play in the competition next year. We are 10 points behind Manchester City who’re currently 10 Points ahead of us but have a game less then us as well. With a win they’ll be 13 points ahead of us.
It looks unrealistic to overtake Manchester City in the last 9 games of the season, so we have to plan without Champions League football. That would mean that we’ll have less money and smaller chances of signing any big players as they desire to play Champions League football.
How will the Chelsea squad look after this season? Who will leave and who will come in?
Well, it’s very hard to say which players are leaving and which will be joining, because it all depends on how the new coach (Antonio Conte as it stands) and how he likes to play and which players will he need to bring Chelsea back at the top level. Chelsea needs to be very careful as we have no room for errors this summer as increasing mistakes with the transfers we’ll make us the new Liverpool. However I can’t see into the future and order how the squad will be next season, but I can tell you my opinion and what kinds of changes are needed.
Goalkeepers: I would look to keep Courtois, Begovic and Blackman all in the club. Recent media reports have hinted on Courtois leaving Chelsea in case of being denied from Champions League football. If the Belgium international ends up leaving, we should look around for promising goalkeepers such as Butland, Oblak and Leno, and hold onto Begovic.
Courtois has done very well since he arrived at Chelsea but has been sloppy recently conceding in every of the last eight games. Nevertheless I hope we can keep him and rediscover his top form. In case of him leaving we should go for one of the goalies mentioned before.
Defenders: I think this is the place where we should think twice what we’re doing. First of all and the most importantly we have to keep John Terry. Even if he would become an all-time substitute his leadership is still a priceless addition to the team. With our without him we’d have Ivanovic, Cahill, Baba Rahman, Zouma and Azpilicueta.
At the moment it all depends on the new manager and his preferred formation, as if Conte arrives we’ll most probably be playing three at the back and buy at least two new center halves. Cahill’s form hasn’t been the best this season and should be dropped.
Who should we be selling then? Highly rated and well experienced Bonucci has a strong bound with Antonio Conte and could join Chelsea with him. He’s 28-year-old and in my opinion exactly what we need to add the needed stability into the defense. With three at the back I would like to see it set up for Zouma Bonucci and Terry (if he stays).
In addition to the Juventus defender there are also other options like Marquinhos or Romagnoli to monitor – not to forget our own players such as Miazga, Christensen and Clarke-Salter. But I think the best signing Chelsea could make to strengthen their defense would be to buy someone like Bonucci. For me he’s one of the best defenders in the world!
Defensive midfielders: Ramires gone, Loftus-Cheek still inexperienced, Matic absolutely out of form, Mikel doing great since the arrival of Hiddink and Fabregas back on track. There are our holding midfielders, mostly lacking the needed quality. For Conte the current players surely ain’t enough, and the rumor mill has told that. Chelsea are reportedly interested on signing Nainggolan, Vidal and Pjanic.
They all would be great signings for us and could fit in well on Conte’s team. Even-though, with us not achieving our place in the Champions League next season it’ll be difficult to attract these high profile players to join a team who could have their only game outside England in an away game at Swansea. Luckily we also have options on our players out on loan, for example: Chalobah, Van Ginkel, Pasalic or Lewis-Baker.
Attacking midfielders/wingers: At the moment we have Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Pedro and Kenedy. I honestly think Oscar and Hazard should leave due to their horrible performances throughout the season. Besides we would make good money by selling them. But who to replace the departing stars? At the moment we have potential players to bring back from loan like Jeremie Boga, Moses, Atsu, Brown, Cuadrado and Musonda.
The player who is most likely to stay at Chelsea is Cuadrado as Conte is a big admirer of Serie A players. Who could Chelsea buy? I would still look for Alex Teixeira because I don’t think he’ll stay in China that long. I also rate Porto’s Brahimi a lot and would love to see him at Stamford Bridge.
Strikers: Diego Costa, Loic Remy, Bertrand Traore, Alexandre Pato and Radamel Falcao are our current five strikers. Who do we have on loan? Patrick Bamford and Dominic Solanke are our only two decent strikers on loan, but I’m skeptical about their ripe to play under Antonio Conte.
What is going to happen with our five strikers we have? Two of them are on loan, Falcao and Pato. We still haven’t seen that much from either of them but with two months still to go before summer, they have a chance to prove themselves.
Diego Costa should stay and the Chelsea board should do their everything to keep him. Bertrand Traore will surely stay after his good performances lately and will hopefully keep up the good work under the new manager as well. Loic Remy is bound to leave Chelsea in the summer as he’s uninterested to play even when he gets a chance on the pitch.
It leaves us with Costa and Traore as Falcao and Pato don’t look like signing a permanent deal at the Bridge. Should we buy someone new then? Maybe bring back Lukaku? Swap Costa for Cavani as rumoured? Many questions will be asked during the summer as Roman Abramovich is keen to spend on four big name players to revive the wounded Chelsea side. Let’s hope that the board get’s the transfers done right and only sell the not-needed players – also to hire the right manager.
