Just seeing Chelsea do business in the transfer market puts a smile on my face and I’m certainly one who would love to see Lukaku back at Chelsea.
When he first arrived at Chelsea as an 18-year-old, you could see he loved the club and was in awe of Stamford Bridge and wanted to accomplish many things here. I think his ambition is sometimes confused with his ego and his drive to become better can only be a good thing for the 23-year-old.
At the start of the season it was clear Chelsea needed to pretty much strengthen every area of the field except for goalkeeper. By strengthen I don’t necessarily mean buy players, we all know about the large number of players we have on loan.
Last season we were short at the back and really were exposed by the horrific injury to Zouma. Nathan Ake, Ola Aina, Kalas and even Kenneth Omeruo would be great squad players who could have played a role last season. I’ve purposely excluded Christensen as he is half way through a 2-year loan and can’t be called back.
In pre-season the only defensive additions have been Ola Aina (who has done really well) and Michael Hector. Being brutally honest Matt Miazga and Michael Hector have no present or future at this club as we need top class players who can go into the first team so even though they’re here they can’t be considered in terms of adding strength to our backline, which is why we need to go out and spend.
Don’t get me wrong, John Terry is a legend and our captain but the same way how some strikers are good but don’t do well as a lone striker. I feel unless we play 3 at the back, Terry will struggle.
Seeing Chelsea linked with right backs does worry me and I pray we don’t sign one. Having Azpilicueta as our starting right back and Ola Aina as backup is enough for the right back position. Since Ashley Cole left in 2010 we haven’t really had a legitimate left back. Ryan Bertrand, Filipe Luis or Nathan Ake would have been great starters or backups given more time but this current Chelsea team lacks a legitimate left back after letting Baba Rahman go to Schalke on loan.
Baba Rahman joining Schalke on season-long loan can only be a positive. If we would have sold him, it would have been for a lot more than we paid for him so if he can produce at Schalke we either have a better player than can challenge for a first team spot or a player wanted by other teams that we can sell for more than he’s worth this season.
Who We Need
As mentioned above Ricardo Rodriguez is a player I’ve hoped Chelsea would have their eye on and it seems they now do.
De Sciglio would also be a great buy for us because we really do need a backup but Aina seems to be able to play in any position across the back line so having him Aina as a backup left back to Rodriguez and Ivanovic as a backup to Azpilicueta would be more than adequate.
At centre back either Koulibaly, Manolas or Mustafi would be great signings and even though we have been linked with De Vrij, I don’t think he improves our first team.
Knowing we have Christensen waiting in the wings, it makes sense to only make 1 centre back signing especially with the uncertainty around Terry and another contract renewal. With Christensen’s passing ability I have no doubt Conte would keep him in and around the first team but we’ll have to wait and see next year.
A striker partnership of Costa and Lukaku, a midfield of Hazard Kante, Fabregas and Willian and a defence of Rodriguez, Zouma, Koulibaly and Azpilicueta and of course Thibaut Courtois in goal are things dreams are made of.
