Prior to the big Premier League kick-off and their Saturday evening fixture against Swansea City last week, Chelsea boasted the best opening weekend record in the Premier League so Blues fans would’ve looked upon the 2-2 draw with some disappointment.
Pegged back twice by the Swans while Thibaut Courtois saw red and Eva Carneiro received a public dressing down by Jose Mourinho, it’s fair to say that it could’ve gone a whole lot better for the Blues.
Previously beaten 1-0 by Arsenal in the Community Shield, Chelsea fans obviously want their side to bounce back with a win sooner rather than later to avoid widespread panic ensuing.
The next piece of business the club conclude in the transfer market seems to be a move for FC Augsburg’s Baba Rahman with the Ghanaian international set to arrive at Stamford Bridge as a direct replacement for the outgoing Filipe Luis after just one season in West London.
Despite Rahman’s impending arrival, some Chelsea fans would rather the club didn’t stop there and brought extra firepower into Stamford Bridge with Diego Costa injury prone and Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy not representing dream options behind the Spanish international.
Only time will tell whether Jose Mourinho swoops to add more playing staff to his ranks this summer but in the meantime, we’ve devised an entire eleven made up of transfer targets linked with a Blues switch this transfer window.
[ffc-gallery]
Click on the image below to reveal the ultimate Chelsea transfer linked XI.
[/ffc-gallery]
Robert Green
Back in June amidst the speculation that Petr Cech was set to join Arsenal who are now his new employers of course, papers such as the Daily Star claimed Chelsea were set to replace the long-serving Czech with a move for QPR’s Robert Green.
Boasting their homegrown quota in turn, this move seemed to make sense to a certain degree despite Blues fans groaning that they didn’t want old butterfingers of the 2010 World Cup in their star-studded squad.
Ending up signing Asmir Begovic from Stoke City, Chelsea fans were glad the club went with that tact and the Bosnian received some playing time quicker than he would’ve imagined, deputising for Thibaut Courtois after his sending off against Swansea City at the weekend.
Gregory van der Wiel
Now you’d imagine that Chelsea’s right back situation is in good hands with Branislav Ivanovic a model of consistency in the position, not to mention the option for Cesar Azpilicueta to revert there if the Serb is injured or suspended.
Well according to recent reports by The Express, Jose Mourinho may be set to strengthen that area further with the news that the Blues have approached Paris Saint-Germain in regards to signing Gregory van der Wiel.
Despite being highly-rated during his time spent at Ajax, van der Wiel has found regular playing time at the Parc Des Princes hard to come by, usurped first by Christophe Jallet and nowadays by Serge Aurier.
The Dutchman even told Le Parisien last week: “I want to stay at PSG but the club wants me to go. Things are clear.”
So it seems Chelsea fans need to be watching this space.
John Stones
Subject of two failed transfer bids by the Blues so far, Everton appear to be holding Chelsea to ransom regarding the potential signing of England international John Stones.
Jose Mourinho has angered Toffees boss Roberto Martinez this summer by going public in his admiration of the former Barnsley youngster and having started against Watford at the weekend, it is still simple for the Everton manager – Stones will be staying at Goodison Park.
The latest is that Manchester United may muscle in on the signing of Stones for themselves with Metro claiming that Louis van Gaal will offer cash plus Jonny Evans in order to seal a deal.
Raphael Varane
Given Jose Mourinho gave him his big breakthrough during his time managing Real Madrid, this has meant Raphael Varane has been incessantly linked with a Chelsea switch for some time.
Back in June, Metro claimed the French international was ready to give up on his Bernabeu dream while arriving at Chelsea as the long-term successor for John Terry.
Of course, replacing Terry will be near on impossible given the level of service he has given to the Blues down the years but the feeling is that Varane is the best of the next generation of centre backs and it’s hard to disagree.
But with his defensive partners Sergio Ramos and Pepe having also been linked with an exit this summer, we think that all three of them will be remaining under Rafael Benitez’s wing after all.
Danny Rose
There was a feeling of total disbelief by the bar a week or so ago when The Independent proceeded with reports that Chelsea had told Tottenham to name their price for Danny Rose.
Not considered totally good enough by Spurs fans, let alone Chelsea ones, this rumour is one that definitely deserves a place in the silly pile this summer.
It appears that everything points towards FC Augsburg’s Baba Rahman being Filipe Luis’ replacement and although Chelsea fans have never heard of him before, they’d rather take a punt on him rather than Rose!
Pedro
It looks as if he’s going to be joining Manchester United after all with the Daily Star claiming that the Barcelona man has already taken part in the first section of his medical but prior to this, Chelsea were heavily linked too.
A one club man at present with Barcelona, it is clear to everybody that if he was starting week in, week out under Luis Enrique, he’d be more than content but following Luis Suarez’s arrival last summer, he is a high profile sub nowadays and this is no good for a player aged 28.
With Chelsea fans having had to put up with the likes of Juan Cuadrado, Mohamed Salah and Victor Moses for varying spells over the last couple of seasons, Blues supporters really wanted to see Mourinho land a truly world class winger in Pedro.
Unfortunately for them, it doesn’t look like it’ll be the case.
Alex Song
Much like Robert Green and Danny Rose mentioned previously, Alex Song was another underwhelming name linked with a Chelsea switch this summer and considering this rumour was sparked around the time Radamel Falcao was signing on loan, Blues fans were cringing for that period.
Still a Barcelona player but fully expected to be joining West Ham United again but this time permanently, Song would’ve counted as a homegrown player given he joined Arsenal at a young age but given John Obi Mikel and Ramires are still at Chelsea, his signing was always just a rumour.
The now former Cameroon international impressed for the Hammers during his loan spell last term but the general feeling is that he is a standout player for a club such as West Ham while at Chelsea, he would’ve been a mediocre reserve.
Axel Witsel
Destined to be one of those reports that was incredibly premature back in July, Metro claimed Chelsea were closing in on the signing of Axel Witsel from Zenit Saint-Petersburg.
Clearly a talented player who even enjoyed a prosperous midfield partnership with Nemanja Matic in their time spent at Benfica, even Jose Mourinho publicly came out to comment on the Blues’ reported interest in the Belgian international.
Claiming he had no space on the books at present with Matic, Cesc Fabregas, Oscar, Ramires, John Obi Mikel and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all on the midfield payroll, we don’t know where Metro got their story regarding an impending £22.9 million deal from.
Earlier this summer, Mikel’s agent suggested the Nigerian’s future lay away from Stamford Bridge and if one of those six ended up departing West London, perhaps only then the speculation regarding Witsel would be heightened again.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Having scored the solitary goal to inflict a 1-0 defeat on Chelsea in the Community Shield recently, more bizarre than Arsene Wenger finally getting one over on Jose Mourinho was the fact that the papers thought the Blues could be swooping for the Ox this summer.
The Independent references reports earlier in the summer that suggested Chelsea were only going to sell Petr Cech to Arsenal if they received either Oxlade-Chamberlain of Theo Walcott in return.
Given this perceived interest, Arsenal fans were telling their Chelsea counterparts to get lost when this speculation was rife but more recently, it is the Blues supporters who are smug after Cech’s nightmare debut against West Ham United where both goals conceded were down to the Czech stopper.
Antoine Griezmann
For the first time in a long while, Chelsea haven’t really swooped for a marquee signing this summer with none of Radamel Falcao, Asmir Begovic and the impending arrival of Baba Rahman being enough to get Blues supporters out of their seats.
A lot of Blues fans were hoping the big name arrival to complete their squad was going to be Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann after a stellar first season spent at the Vicente Calderon.
Although the papers heavily linked Chelsea with a swoop for many weeks earlier in the window, any official approaches didn’t seem to happen but if the French international further impresses this term, we fully expect Chelsea to tap into their relationship with Atletico yet again.
Gonzalo Higuain
One striker whose future is yet to be decided this summer is Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain who is viewed by many as one of the best available striking options left in the current transfer window.
While he’s reportedly available, signing him will require an incredibly large fee after Napoli placed a £66 million fee on the head of the Argentine.
Not worth that price at all following a dour 18 months for the player, having lost both the World Cup and Copa America Finals, Higuain still boasts a decent striking record for Napoli and Metro are claiming Chelsea are on alert after the player’s agent and brother spoke about how the Italian club’s contractual extension was basically an insult.
Our resident Blues fanatics think a swoop for Higuain is a good idea with both Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy representing good, not great back-ups if Diego Costa succumbs to injury or suspension.
