A few of our Chelsea regulars were inside the Football Transfer Tavern early yesterday morning to catch a glimpse of their heroes in the Blues’ end of season friendly in Australia against Sydney FC on our large projector screen.
Eager to watch their Premier League title winning side one last time, part of their reasoning to get up early was the sheer fact that they won’t know what to do with themselves after the Champions League Final on Saturday evening with no more football for a little while.
One thing that might pep them up however is the potential signing of Atletico Madrid’s French international forward Antoine Griezmann who has been heavily linked with a summer switch to Stamford Bridge of late.
The latest on the situation is a rather categorical claim from Jose Mourinho that the Blues are not interested in signing Griezmann this summer but how many times has the Portuguese tactician lied to us in the past?
The fact of the matter is that the Blues will need to replace Didier Drogba who announced that he will departing West London for a second time before their final game of the season against Sunderland.
With few transfer windows, if any, passing by without Chelsea making some kind of splurge in the market, we have identified five Blues targets who could well end up following Griezmann to SW6 this summer.
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Click on these Blues fans below to reveal the 5 Chelsea transfers waiting to happen after Antoine Griezmann’s arrival.
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Giannelli Imbula
Not a name that many of our resident Chelsea fans in the tavern are familiar with but a player that is certainly talented.
French defensive midfielder Giannelli Imbula has been a mainstay in Marseille’s first team for the past few seasons now and the 22-year-old has been interesting the Blues for some time.
The Ligue 1 giants narrowly missed out on qualification to next season’s Champions League and Imbula is yet to be recognised at senior international level with France.
A move to Chelsea would surely boost him further forward in Didier Deschamps’ plans in a European Championships season that will of course be taking place in Imbula’s native France and for players such as Arsenal’s Francis Coquelin, 2015/16 will represent a huge opportunity to impress.
The interesting sub plot here is that Marseille are reportedly keen on forging a partnership with the Blues in which Chelsea’s best young players could join the Stade Velodrome outfit, much like the current arrangement with Vitesse Arnhem.
Marseille are reportedly tracking Blues starlet Charly Musonda – who appeared against Sydney FC – and if they were to land him, perhaps it would be part of a deal for Imbula?
Radamel Falcao
Chelsea fans have been stunned of late regarding the club’s reported interest in Colombian international Radamel Falcao who has of course just completed a less than impressive season-long spell at Manchester United.
So close are Chelsea to securing the signature of one of their long-term targets that Metro are reporting that an announcement will be made very soon.
Having dramatically lost his way since moving to Monaco, Falcao has suffered through long-term injuries and it remains to be seen whether he will revisit the heights he scaled at Porto and Atletico Madrid.
At United, Falcao always looked off the pace and only managed to strike a measly four goals in 26 appearances for the Red Devils in a disappointing spell.
The thing with Falcao is that in order to get the best from him, he needs to be loved and playing regularly up top as the favoured lone front man.
The problem at Chelsea is that he is incredibly unlikely to usurp Diego Costa when fit so you can understand the Blues fans’ scepticism regarding this proposed deal.
Miranda
If Chelsea did indeed manage to get a deal done for Antoine Griezmann, could you imagine the cheek of then going in for their star central defender Miranda?
Having already landed Diego Costa and Filipe Luis from Diego Simeone’s side last summer, not to mention recalling Thibaut Courtois, the few Atleti fans we get in the tavern are starting to grow a real dislike for the Blues.
The interesting thing here is that Atleti have been linked with a move to bring Filipe Luis back to the Vicente Calderon after the Brazilian assumed a utility role with the Blues and Simeone hasn’t managed to pin down a trusted long-term solution between Guilherme Siqueira and Cristian Ansaldi at left back.
As for Miranda, perhaps he could move to Stamford Bridge as part of this deal and after all, he isn’t as indispensable as he once was for Atleti with Jose Gimenez having stepped up admirably to forge an effective partnership with Uruguayan international team-mate Diego Godin in recent times.
Moussa Sissoko
Although he has claimed he won’t actively look to pursue a transfer away from Newcastle United this summer, you couldn’t blame Moussa Sissoko for trying to do so.
Out of the current French international roster ahead of a European Championships season, it is only really Sissoko who is playing for a lesser outfit despite the Magpies’ status as a so-called big club.
The latest claims from Sissoko himself are that Chelsea are monitoring his progress and if there was any hint of truth in these rumours, you could understand why.
In a truly abysmal season for John Carver’s side, Sissoko has been pretty much the only shining light with his energetic and powerful runs in a box-to-box position that ultimately culiminated in a final day goal against West Ham United that contributed to saving the Toon Army’s skin.
Sissoko would represent a good addition for Chelsea’s squad if anything and would add competition for places alongside the likes of John Obi Mikel and Ramires although one of these players could yet depart this summer.
If Sissoko was signed, you would imagine Ruben Loftus-Cheek wouldn’t be too happy after finally breaking into the team at the tail end of the 2014/15 campaign, although he needs to up his game if Jose Mourinho’s latest comments regarding the youngster are anything to go by.
Toby Alderweireld
Another name linked with a move to Chelsea in recent days is yes, you guessed it, another Atletico Madrid player!
Toby Alderweireld has just completed a successful season-long loan spell under Ronald Koeman at Southampton but still remains on the books at the Vicente Calderon.
With Jose Gimenez having just enjoyed a fine season in the Spanish capital, you’d imagine that Alderweireld’s chances of a reprieve under Diego Simeone are slim at best, thus interest from the likes of Chelsea.
The believable part of this rumour is the fact that Jose Mourinho tends to sign players who are adaptable and can play in multiple positions.
We have seen with the likes of Kurt Zouma that he can be deployed at centre back or further forward in defensive midfield where he completed such a successful man-marking job against Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini in the Blues’ 1-0 victory at the tail end of the season.
Alderweireld is another player who can perform a similar role and Koeman himself played the Belgian international in midfield at times during 2014/15.
A transfer that makes sense all round?
