Chelsea returned to Premier League action this weekend, bouncing back from their surprise 5-3 defeat to Tottenham on New Year’s Day with a 2-0 home win over Newcastle United.
The result coupled with Frank Lampard’s earlier winner for Manchester City on January 1st saw Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table temporarily cut. However, after Manchester City could only draw at Everton earlier on today, Chelsea are out in front once more.
Nevertheless, all the signs suggest it is going to be one of the closest title races ever seen between Chelsea and City, and with Manuel Pellegrini’s men close to completing the signing of Wilfried Bony from Swansea City, it may well be a case of who performs better in the January transfer window.
Chelsea are no strangers to a big money deal or two, and the rumour mill has gone crazy since the opening of the window.
Here we have gone through the transfer windows, and identified five that seem a bit over the top – even for Chelsea’s standards.
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Click on Jose Mourinho to reveal 5 Chelsea rumours that WON’T happen this month.
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Gareth Bale
Having only completed a world record move to Real Madrid 18 months ago, reports suggest Gareth Bale is about to do it all again.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United have been linked with a £100 million move for the former Tottenham man, with reports suggesting Real Madrid want to cash in so they can fund moves for Sergio Aguero and Marco Reus.
Can anyone really see Real Madrid sanctioning a £100 million transfer for Bale at the halfway point of the season though?
Lionel Messi
Reports have gone crazy over the past week, suggesting Chelsea could complete a £200million move for Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
The current turmoil at the Camp Nou has seen arguably the best player in the world linked with a move to the Premier League, although some reports have suggested it will take a package of a staggering £500 million (including wages) to bring Messi to England.
Surely not?
Raphael Varane
Chelsea are now at a time in which they need to start thinking about a long-term replacement for John Terry whilst Gary Cahill has also struggled to produce his top form at times this season.
Those facts have seen the Blues linked with Real Madrid star Raphael Varane – a player Mourinho discovered during his time at the Bernabeu.
This deal seems unlikely however, on the grounds of how highly Varane is rated in Spain, not to mention the reported £20 million transfer fee. Put into context, that is the same amount of money Liverpool paid Southampton for Dejan Lovren in the summer.
Paul Pogba
The French international midfielder was heavily linked with a move to Chelsea in the summer but Juventus remained adamant they would not be allowing their prized asset to leave. We expect it to be a similar story this month with the Italian champions unlikely to sanction any deal at the midway point of the season.
Pogba is clearly a player Mourinho wants however and it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Chelsea were to launch a mega money bid for his services in the summer.
Marco Reus
Only a couple of months ago it seems Reus to Chelsea was a done deal. The Blues seemed to be the favourites for his signature given they were reportedly willing to offer Andre Schurrle in part exchange.
However, all the talk of the 25-year-old making a switch to Stamford Bridge seems to have died down which suggests Reus will either be staying at Dortmund this month or has a deal to sign for Real Madrid or Bayern Munich already in the pipeline.
Either way, Chelsea already boast a large number of star players who play in the same position as Reus, so perhaps the money would be better off being spent elsewhere regardless.
