So last week was a week no Chelsea supporter in the Football Transfer Tavern will forget for some time after Monday night’s defeat to Leicester City proved the undoing of club legend Jose Mourinho who was sacked by Roman Abramovich on Thursday afternoon.
A hugely unpopular decision with the overwhelming majority of Chelsea supporters, these Blues fans are solely blaming the players for the club’s quite terrible Premier League campaign so far.
With former interim boss Guus Hiddink stepping in for a second spell in the same circumstances, at least Blues supporters have some affections for the Dutchman who of course led the West London club to an FA Cup triumph back in 2009.
But what happens after 2015/16?
Hiddink will undoubtedly steady the ship at Stamford Bridge with several of the Blues’ players seeming to exceed themselves against a poor Sunderland side in a 3-1 victory at the weekend but with many claiming the top four is out of reach, just who will take the job full-time?
With Hiddink himself having enjoyed a career whereby he hasn’t settled with one team for too long before moving on, somebody fresh will be coming in next summer you imagine and we all know that Pep Guardiola’s whereabouts are still unknown at present.
That said, another name talked about frequently by the bar of late has been Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone who seems perfectly suited for the Stamford Bridge hotseat given his tactical similarities to Jose Mourinho.
No matters what happens, we’ve tried to look ahead to the future while devising a five-man shortlist of current Blues stars who might not be around at Stamford Bridge next season.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five Chelsea stars who might not be Blues players next season.
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Cesc Fabregas
Since Jose Mourinho’s dismissal last Thursday, Cesc Fabregas has received the brunt of Blues fans’ frustrations having had his name tarred as one of the players whose lacklustre performances ultimately led to the downfall of the Portuguese.
Enduring a poor 2015/16 campaign all around and having tread water since the mid-point of last season, being a former Arsenal captain of course, Fabregas is naturally an easy target although you can see why Chelsea supporters have gone against him.
Appearing in an intriguing Facebook Q&A with Thierry Henry last week all for the wrong reasons, Fabregas didn’t appear to stand up for Chelsea and his team-mates at all and this has quite rightly alienated him from the fanbase.
This will prove hard to rebuild unless Fabregas puts in some super-human performances between now and the end of the season and we can’t see that happening.
Ultimately a shame for a player who may well depart England not really being a legend at either Arsenal or Chelsea.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
The cold hard fact of the matter is that Ruben Loftus-Cheek would’ve definitely made more first team appearances at another team than Chelsea at his current age of 19.
Still incredibly young of course, Loftus-Cheek still hasn’t received a regular run in this Blues team despite being touted by Chelsea supporters as one of the best prospects to come through their academy in years.
If Loftus-Cheek couldn’t break into the team when it’s been as poor as it has been so far this season, then what does the future really hold for the midfielder who may well assess his options in the summer.
Yet to complete a loan switch away from Stamford Bridge in his career, if one doesn’t prevail in January and he continues to receive fleeting cameos here and there, perhaps the player’s agents may look at getting him regular starting chances elsewhere.
Diego Costa
If Diego Simeone arrives as Chelsea manager next season, perhaps Diego Costa could receive a lifeline.
If not, he could well end up departing.
We think it is as simple as that here in the tavern right now with the Spanish international having endured an embarrassing campaign so far which has only resulted in just FOUR goals in all competitions.
In incredibly stark contrast to his fantastic start in English football at the beginning of last term, Costa has been a total burden so far this campaign with the former Atletico Madrid man far more interested in causing needle with the opposition rather than putting the ball in the opposition net.
His petulance has grated on Blues supporters so far this season as opposed to the player being a fan favourite last term and if his poor performances continue, it could only be a potential Simeone appointment that could save him.
Loic Remy
Twenty-eight-year-old Loic Remy resides a Chelsea player who isn’t really thought of as useless but isn’t really thought of as that good at the same time!
Seemingly a Mr average-type player at Stamford Bridge, Remy still hasn’t been able to permanently dislodge a poor Diego Costa from the starting line-up so far this term and we think that speaks volumes.
If Chelsea do want to go on and emulate what they set out to do in Mourinho’s second tenure prior to his sacking, surely they have to land strikers of better quality than the Frenchman who seemed a big fish in a small pond in his spells at both QPR and Newcastle United.
With Radamel Falcao being well Falcao and Diego Costa flattering to deceive, there’s a case that Chelsea may do ell to completely revamp their striking options next summer.
Antoine Griezmann anybody?
Branislav Ivanovic
One of those Chelsea players who dubiously seemed to excel alongside the likes of Oscar in the weekend’s 3-1 victory over Sunderland, Branislav Ivanovic opened the scoring for the Blues in the first-half.
It was most definitely the long-serving Serbian’s finest moment in a Chelsea shirt so far this season but that wasn’t hard after Ivanovic put in a series of terrible performances from the off this campaign.
Looking off the pace on a week-to-week basis and seemingly making mistakes that led to an incredible number of goals as conceded by the Blues, Ivanovic is now 31-years-old and is clearly not the player he once was.
We’ll see over the next couple of months whether he was not playing for Mourinho but nevertheless, we think a transfer to the elderly home of European football in Serie A may lay in wait for Ivanovic who could be likely to be replaced with somebody fresher with more pace down the right flank.
We saw Everton’s Seamus Coleman linked with a Blues switch last week and if a move such as that were to come to fruition, surely Ivanovic’s days as a Chelsea player would be over.
