Our resident Chelsea fans drinking in the Football Transfer Tavern suffered something awfully unfamiliar on Monday evening in front of our big plasma screens – a Premier League defeat.
With the 3-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion remarkably being the first league defeat for the Blues since that 5-3 game to forget away at Tottenham on New Year’s Day, this stat alone shows how dominant Jose Mourinho’s side have been in an imperious campaign for everyone connected to the club.
Ever since Chelsea officially clinched the title courtesy of that 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace a few weeks back, the talk has been centred upon where both Chelsea and Jose Mourinho go from here.
With the outspoken Portuguese tactician having more than proved he can win league titles wherever he ends up, the next phase of his management surely has to be dominating the Premier League, much like the way in which his old pal Sir Alex Ferguson did at Manchester United.
With the Blues having also clinched the UEFA Youth League title this term, not to mention retaining the FA Youth Cup, there is no doubting that there is a new wave of Chelsea youngsters who will be knocking on the door in the next few seasons to come.
It just remains to be seen whether Mourinho can keep his promise of bringing them through to the first team in a way he has been tentative with thus far in his Blues career.
With Chelsea very much in a position of adding the finishing touches to a complete-looking squad, here are five midfielders which could help them achieve back-to-back titles next season.
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Click on these Blues fans below to reveal the 5 midfielders to help Chelsea win the Premier League next season.
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Sami Khedira
Quite literally in the footballing wilderness, such is his non-existent role with Real Madrid at the moment, Sami Khedira will be making a transfer to pastures new this summer.
Heavily linked with Arsenal in previous transfer windows, our resident Blues fans have always thought that they stand a better chance of landing the German international given Jose Mourinho’s personal relationship with the player.
Khedira was one of Mourinho’s disciples during his time in charge at the Bernabeu and you would imagine that the Blues boss would be interested in a transfer reunion this summer.
With Chelsea fans questioning the worth of Ramires and John Obi Mikel, perhaps Khedira could be seen as an upgrade on both of those current Blues aces.
Antoine Griezmann
Performing mostly as a forward at Atletico Madrid in his debut season at the Vicente Calderon this term, if Chelsea did indeed manage to get their hands on Antoine Griezmann, he would most probably end up playing wide in the Blues’ favoured 4-2-3-1 formation, such is his inclusion on our list.
The French international has enjoyed an incredible season on a personal level with Los Colchoneros, bagging 22 La Liga goals heading into the final weekend since last summer’s switch from Real Sociedad.
While Atleti clearly wouldn’t like to let this kind of talent leave the Spanish capital so soon, recent transfers have suggested that Diego Simeone’s men are willing to sell if the price is right.
With Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao and Diego Costa having passed through Atletico Madrid on their way to pastures new in the past, could Griezmann be the next high profile sale?
One way in which the Blues could look to tempt Atleti into a sale could be a decision to sell Filipe Luis back to the Spanish club as part of a potential deal for Griezmann following a bit-part role with Chelsea this term.
With Simeone struggling to find a regular left back solution in Guilherme Siqueira and Cristian Ansaldi this term, they would love to have their Brazilian full back, back in Spain.
Giannelli Imbula
Giannelli Imbula is the least known name in our list but a player who has been linked with Chelsea for a little while now.
The 22-year-old Marseille defensive midfielder is a domineering presence at 6 ft 1 in and the sub plot here is the fact that the Ligue 1 giants are keen to strike up a loan partnership with Chelsea in the near future.
In a recent article by The Mirror, Les Phocéens were credited with an interest in Blues academy starlet Charly Musonda who is yet to make a first team appearance for Chelsea.
With an entire plethora of young Blues stars either filling the academy ranks or out on loan around Europe such as at satellite club Vitesse Arnhem, it will be interesting to see whether Marseille are granted permission to make such a partnership official.
If such a thing does come to fruition, you can imagine that the Blues would be owed something of a favour and that could be in the form of landing Imbula in return for a handful of young Chelsea hopefuls on loan.
We saw back in 2013 that Chelsea landed the permanent services of Marco van Ginkel from Vitesse as part of an identical-looking arrangement.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
A long shot perhaps but given his most recent inclusions in Jose Mourinho’s starting eleven that were fielded against both Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion, Ruben Loftus-Cheek could be set to become a firm fixture for Chelseea next season.
As discussed from the outset, Jose Mourinho now knows that there is an onus on his management to more readily bring through promising stars from Chelsea’s academy.
Speaking about Blues youngster Lewis Baker in July 2014, Mourinho mentioned that he would have failed England if both he, Izzy Brown and Dominic Solanke never play for the Three Lions at senior international level.
Despite the Blues’ 3-0 loss on Monday evening at The Hawthorns, Loftus-Cheek didn’t disgrace himself and given his 6 ft 3 in frame, he boasts the physicality that Mourinho enjoys in his favoured midfield selections.
With RLC as he’s referred to by our resident Blues fans also set to appear in Gareth Southgate’s final England squad for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship this summer after being provisionally named this week, he is gaining first team experience all the time and could be set to usurp the likes of John Obi Mikel sooner than first imagined.
Paul Pogba
In recent transfer windows, it is fair to conclude that Chelsea have at times struggled to add effective finishing touches to an otherwise imperious playing squad, just ask either Mohamed Salah or more recently Juan Cuadrado!
Somebody who would really represent a true finishing touch would be Juventus superstar Paul Pogba.
With Chelsea now staunch advocates of Financial Fair Play, despite recent decisions to relax the ruling somewhat, our resident Blues fans would be more than willing to axe the likes of John Obi Mikel, Ramires and for some, even Oscar in order to finance a swoop for the French international.
Often described as Sir Alex Ferguson’s biggest mistake in regards to letting him depart Old Trafford too soon, Pogba is domineering, physical and boasts a lethal strike, qualities that would make him fit in at Stamford Bridge in an instant.
If the Blues did indeed manage to beat off interest from the likes of Real Madrid this summer, with Pogba in their team alongside the likes of Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas, the rest of the Premier League may well be shuddering at the prospect of such a fearsome-looking combination.
