How to improve on near perfection? That is the question that Chelsea fans are asking themselves in the Football Transfer Tavern this evening.
Blues fans have filled the bar for a few hours now after travelling to their Premier League winning victory parade earlier today and the tavern is awash with blue and white.
Following yesterday’s 3-1 victory over Sunderland on the final day, Jose Mourinho reiterated that he believes his Blues outfit are a ‘complete’ team but we don’t think for one second that there won’t be a series of incomings and outgoings at Stamford Bridge this summer.
One man who has been linked with a summer switch to Chelsea recently has been Atletico Madrid’s standout French forward Antoine Griezmann who has just enjoyed a fine debut season in the Spanish capital.
Capable of playing as a centre forward or on the flanks, given the presence of Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge, if all went to plan and Griezmann was signed, he would probably play on the opposite flank to Eden Hazard in a fearsome looking attack.
With this story potentially running and running this summer, we have lined up 5 other Blues targets who could end up following him to West London during the off-season.
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Click on the champions below to reveal the 5 players who could follow Antoine Griezmann to Chelsea next season.
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Vicente Guaita
With each passing week, it is looking more and more likely that Chelsea will finally be without the services of Petr Cech for the first time in a long time next season.
With the season now finished, Cech’s future could be resolved in the coming days with rumours intensifying over a switch to the Blues’ London rivals Arsenal for the long serving Czech Republic international.
With Mitchell Beeney and Jamal Blackman hugely unlikely to be thrust into the first team picture at Stamford Bridge, Jose Mourinho will have to scour Europe for a replacement and he could do a lot worse than Getafe stopper Vicente Guaita.
Linked with Arsenal in the past, the 28-year-old has more recently been linked with a summer switch to the Blues by Metro and the Spanish stopper has been used to rotation in the past, competing with Diego Alves for a place between the sticks at Valencia not too long ago.
This is something he’d have to become used to at Stamford Bridge with Thibaut Courtois far and away one of the best stoppers in world football.
Alternatively, John Ruddy has been linked but having been a loyal servant to Norwich City for a while now, we can’t see that one happening.
Gonzalo Higuain
Prior to kick off against Sunderland yesterday afternoon, Didier Drogba announced his decision that he would be leaving the Blues this summer, bringing to a close another trophy-laden spell with the West London club.
In all honesty, Jose Mourinho was probably going to move for striking reinforcements anyway had Drogba stayed on with the Ivorian freely admitting that he isn’t the striker he once was and one man who could fill his shoes is Gonzalo Higuain.
If the Blues do need strengthening at all, it is in this position and with Loic Remy representing a good, not great forward, to add another world class forward would really take Chelsea to even higher heights.
There has been speculation that Higuain will leave Napoli all season and with Rafael Benitez’s future in Italy uncertain, you can imagine that if the Spaniard left, it would be Higuain’s queue to leave Stadio San Paolo also.
While he’d have to compete with Diego Costa for a regular berth up top, Manchester City proved with the quadruple presence of Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic a couple of seasons ago that in periods, you can indeed keep everyone somewhat happy via rotation.
Sami Khedira
Probably the most likely incoming at Stamford Bridge this summer, Sami Khedira is someone who our resident Blues fans see as an upgrade on current aces Ramires and John Obi Mikel.
With his Real Madrid exit pretty much a certainty this summer, you can imagine that Jose Mourinho would be interested in signing a player he coached so successfully during his time at the Bernabeu.
A player who Mourinho knows and trusts, Khedira boasts all the experience in the world to prove a success in London and with Los Blancos having been linked to Ramires in the past, perhaps these players could be heading in opposite directions over the forthcoming months.
Pedro
Few regular substitutes in world football are as talented as this man but unfortunately for him, Pedro finds himself in that very predicament given the presence of Neymar, Lional Messi and Luis Suarez up top for Barcelona.
While it is very clear that Pedro has been a loyal servant to the Catalan club, thus giving the impression that it would take quite a lot to prise him away from the Camp Nou this summer, there comes a time in every player’s career where they have to make a decision in regards to regular playing time.
Prior to the signing of Suarez, Pedro was much more of a regular and a move to a club well versed in winning such as Chelsea would seem like a good fit.
The only doubts over such a deal happening however would be Jose Mourinho’s personal relationship with the Spanish club which is probably best described as tainted at best.
Felipe Anderson
A name we have heard more and more of with each passing week in the Football Transfer Tavern has been Lazio’s attacking midfielder Felipe Anderson.
A winger by trade, you’d imagine that if Chelsea did indeed get their hands on Griezmann then a deal for Anderson would be far more unlikely but in recent seasons, the Blues haven’t been shy of adding a winger or two, have they?
Although football fans can be incredibly impatient and fickle at times, you sense that there is no long-term future for Mohamed Salah and even Juan Cuadrado at Stamford Bridge so if these two were shifted, perhaps Jose Mourinho would look at Anderson too?
Cuadrado has incredibly been linked with Barcelona in recent times and if he were to depart West London so soon, our resident Blues fans see Anderson as an improvement, although the landlord has a sneaking suspicion that although this is the case, the vast majority of Chelsea fans haven’t even seen the Brazilian kick a ball themselves!
