Wednesday 11 August 2010

David Luiz to be Carvalho replacement?

Promising young Brazilian defender David Luiz looks like the man that Carlo Ancelotti is going after to add much needed depth to the Chelsea backline. Problem is, he simply isn't worth the £27m price tag that Benfica want for him. A strong and athletic player, Luiz also has interest from Man City apparently, which isn't likely to help Chelsea's cause of haggling the price down.

Luiz would be a very good signing provided he can be bought for around the £12m - £14m mark in my opinion. Much more than that and he could be a gigantic flop. I wouldn't fancy him to get many starts either if JT and Alex can stay healthy.

With the departure of Ricardo Carvalho, Chelsea need to add more depth in central defence.

The departure of a true servant of Chelsea in Ricardo Carvalho is sad, but probably the right thing. The Portugese defender was showing some signs of his age and with John Terry as Chelsea's central defence stalwart, we always missed a bit of the pace that the likes of Gallas provided in the centre. Back under Jose Mourhinio's wing at Real, Carvalho will be a big asset. He has a good relationship with the manager already and has the experience of being a winner that is so valuable for teams looking to make that push.

The challenge now for Chelsea is to bring in a new central defender in my eyes. The trio of JT, Alex and Ivanovic to play centre-half is okay, but needs more depth, youth and pace added to it. Michael Mancienne would be the obvious candidate but has been deemed still not ready and will probably be loaned to Wolves, so the void may have to be filled by a transfer signing.

That is unless Jeffrey Bruma or Sam Hutchinson are the extra options Ancelotti has in mind, in which case the Italian will be making a gamble in my eyes given their lack of first team experience.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Could Mesut Ozil be the creative spark Chelsea need?

It comes as no surprise that teams like Barcelona and Manchester United want Mesut Ozil. Arguably though, Chelsea need him more than anyone else.

The biggest element lacking in the Chelsea squad at the moment has to be a lack of creativity in midfield. Frank Lampard has been driving this element of the team forward for a long time, and though Arjen Robben's arrival helped bucket loads, we have struggled at times in this department. The 3-1 defeat in the Charity Shield was a prime example.

Though Michael Essien could be played as a quality attacking midfielder, his physical strength would probably be better served at the defence end of the park, though the signing of Ramires seems to signal that Essien will be implemented in a role other than the Makelele special. Ozil meanwhile has proven himself to be capable of causing the opposition all sorts of problem, acting as that key to unlock defences. He would be a quality signing and the marquee type player we badly need to shake things up going forward.

Monday 9 August 2010

A shame to see Scott Sinclair go.

One of the things that surely has to concern any long term Chelsea fan is the lack of first team breakthroughs we've had in terms of home grown/developed talent. It's a big problem for everyone in the Premiership and Chelsea are no exception, so the departure of Scott Sinclair today definitely has to be considered disappointing. Fairplay to Swansea for taking a risk and smashing their transfer budget on a relatively unproven 21 year old.

The lad looked pretty good when on loan in the lower leagues but never really got going when he was given a first team call-up in the big league. He always looked small and fairly fragile, but possessed the type of pace badly required in the squad at the moment. Nonetheless I think at the age of 21 he has got a great future ahead of him at Swansea.

Hopefully another promising young English player in the Chelsea ranks, Michael Mancienne, isn't sold to Wolves. With Joe Cole gone, A-Cole's future a big uncertainty and Lampard/Terry getting older, we don't want to end up like Arsenal!