Date: 13th May 2011 at 5:00pm
Written by:

Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford means that Manchester United needs just one point to take the Blues’ Premier League crown from them and club captain John Terry has reportedly urged Roman Abramovich to bring new players to the club, but do we really need to spend big to achieve this?

Terry hopes that the club can work over the summer to build a squad that can rival the one managed by Jose Mourinho during his time at Stamford Bridge:

“I always think we should strengthen all over the pitch. I look back when Jose Mourinho was here – we had a very big squad and great players who could come in, but that brings financial problems and players become unhappy.

“We literally had 11-13 players who weren’t involved, but they were a very good set of quality players and we have missed that.

“We need somewhere in between where we are now and what we had back then. We lost a lot of big players this year and maybe we needed a bigger squad.

“But that’s no fault of [owner] Roman [Abramovich] or this football club. What he has done for Chelsea, I couldn’t put into words.

“It is his money and he has dedicated a lot of time and effort, but I would say we need players.”

(The Metro)

Firstly, I agree with JT, the squad has lost some of its quality over time and needs to be rebuilt. We are already on our way to doing this after spending big on the likes of Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Ramires, and also added Yossi Benayoun to the squad for a lesser fee, but he was injured for the majority of the current campaign, unfortunately.


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It’s reported that the club are mainly looking to strengthen in three main areas, right-back (my money is on Gregory van der Wiel), a flying winger (Alexis Sanchez?) and a creative midfield maestro (rumours suggest Kaka perhaps). It would likely cost a fair bit to improve these areas and would improve the first XI, but in terms of the squad, does Chelsea need to be smarter with their money and seek bargains?

For example, just this season Barcelona signed Ibrahim Afellay for under £3m from PSV Eindhoven, Mesut Ozil arrived at Real Madrid for just £13m and they have recently agreed a £9m fee for Dortmund playmaker Nuri Sahin. And there are sure to be more transfer bargains out there this summer, Sylvain Marveaux, for instance, has been touted as the ‘next Malouda’ and is set to leave Rennes on a free transfer at the end of the season when his deal with the French club expires, although Liverpool are believed to be in the driving seat in the chase for the winger.

Manchester United found a bargain in Javier Hernandez, who has scored 20 goals for the Red Devils so far this season and arrived at Old Trafford for a fee believed to be around £6m. Cheik Tiote has also earned a lot of praise in his debut Premier League season after signing for Newcastle United for around £3.5m, both the aforementioned highlighting the importance of scouting networks, especially now that UEFA’s financial fair play ruling has become a factor in football club’s thinking when it comes to spending money.

I think Chelsea’s biggest problem during the current season has been the lack of suitable backup and that there’s not enough competition within the squad. We may have to spend big if we’re to buy players intended to go straight into our first XI, but in terms of building our squad, we ought to do more to compete for the bargains out there and hope that our scouting network (which is set for an overhaul, especially as Frank Arnesen is to depart) can find the stars of tomorrow.

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11 responses to “Chelsea ‘need players’ this summer, but do we need to spend big?”

  1. tom in mombasa kenya says:

    WE NEED A COOL SCOUTING NETWORK

  2. timmy says:

    i DONT BELIEVE WE NEED TO SPEND BIG THIS SUMMER SINCE WE HAVE GOOD PLAYERS IN RESERVE. THEY KNOW WHAT THE CLUB MEANS TO THEM COS THEY GREW WITH THE CLUB AND THEY ALL HAVE AN AIM. BUYING BIG PLAYERS WITH MILLION WONT ASSURE US OF GOOD PERFORMANCE e.g TORRES. SO LET ROMAN BE WISE WITH HIS MONEY SPEND LESS, BRING IN PLAYERS FROM THE ACADEMY WHO ARE UNKNOWN BY CLUB WHO WILL COME IN AND STEAL THE SHOW.A BIG CLUB IS DOES NOT DEPEND ON HOW MUCH SPENT BUT THE NO OF TROPHIES WON, ASK MAN-UNITED HOW IT FEEL TO HAVE WON 19 PL TROPHIES WITHOUT SPENDING EXTREMELY MUCH. ANYONE WHO WANTS US TO SPEND EXTRA BIG SHOULD DROP HIS SALARY FOR THE TEAM REBUILDING.

    • BranaFan says:

      ‘grew with the team’ – most of the squad was bought, numbnuts. ‘e.g Torres’ – the guy hasn’t even had a full season. The poor form is from you, you ingrate.

      By the way, Manchester United have spent money. Theyre 4/5 highest spenders in Premier League history.

  3. chelsea life says:

    i think tats not enough… ancelloti dhould become more strong, gain gutts nd shud hav no soft corner among the players.. if he does not clear the aged squads, chelsea wud be moving to more loss with no cups in 2 to 3 seasons till the next manager comes.. shud buy some gud wingers to both left nd right.. buy matta or bale or hazard in the left nd sanchez or any gud right winger.. shu have a creative attacking midfielder along with lampard and mceachran or kaka if he come which include the list of fabregas, ericksson, arteta, hamsik or kruz in bayern munich.. give kakuta better chances or give gim in loan for one more season to a gud club who can giv him nice first team appearence.. make piazon play soon nd make him fit for premier league.. buy van der weil.. sell anelka, malouda, bosingwa, kalou, zhirkov( if ancelloti still hav no plans for his first team), ferreira.. sometimes make luiz play in essiens position nd give more chances for mikel.. lukaku will be a huge flop if there is no gud wingers.. make torres nd sturridge play together … giv chances for bertrand… ashley cole is the best in his position.. and stop the borin purposeless old era defensive game nd try attackin game.. learn to counter attack wat they dunno coz der r no gud wingers… chelsea shud buy some gud money coz wen fairplay rules come to existence we will hav to struggle!!!!!

    • BranaFan says:

      David Luiz doesn’t have the tactical discipline or level head to be anywhere near the defensive midfield spot and the assumption he can play there is utter garbage. He’s played there in his career before and was worse than useless.

      • chelsea life says:

        i think branafan havn’t seen much of his games… this guy is aggresive nd wreckless may be.. but i’m sure tat he wont reach upto this wrecklesnes wat vidic does and earn red cards.. by the way he play gud in the midfield position.. he has nice technical abilities, can create more goal scorin chances by gud passes nd through balls nd can handle the ball pretty gud.. and he has a long time to go in his career..

  4. chelsea life says:

    we need the best scouting network!!!

  5. chelsea fan 101 says:

    We dont need to spend big money!! The team needs to have a couple young guys who can create a flare and bring the team together! Put Lampard on the bench, Kakuta has showed that be brings a certain “je ne sais quoi” to the table that can inspire a team!

  6. Egege cfc sam says:

    I’ve reiterated on several occasions that the problem to our setbacks this term is the players not Carlo. There’s always a need for a revolution when age calls, It shouldnt stir chagrin having the likes of Anelka, Paulo, Bosingwa Malouda, Drogba sold with Lampy making way to the bench atleast to give the young lads playing chances.
    Then bring in V.D.Wiel, Hamsik, Sanchex alexis, Neymar, Hazard and Lukaku. Also get a reputable Ass. Manager then a Scouting Chief maybe i’ld be good with the post. Surely we win the Champions league.

  7. gary says:

    CHELSEA PLAYER ANALYSIS:
    Never were top quality: Ferreira, Bosingwa
    Much slower than they once were: Terry, Essien, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba.
    Over-rated: Kalou, Mikel, Torres.
    Under-rated: Benayoun.
    Selfish in possession (not enough team reliance): Torres, Drogba, Anelka, Malouda.
    Should still have a long future at Chelsea: Luiz, Ramires, Cole, Ivanovic, Cech.
    Would be positive for Chelsea: Subotic (centre back), Van De Wiel (right wing), Neymar (striker).
    -If Torres was taken in place of Neymar, it’s a massive mistake.
    -A big summer clear out will be dangerous, but brave changes are needed.

  8. sammie says:

    sell malouda,anelka,kalou,ferriera,bosingwa,mikel,yuri and drogba if you want to see the best out of fernando torres.lapard should be coming in from the bench.josh,vanaholt,sturridge,bethreand and kakuta should be given more first team action.chelsea should bring in-Neyamr-for 30m, hazard for 15m, hamsik for 20m,vanderweil for 10m,subotic for 10m,kevin de bryune for 5m and ever banega or tiote or m’villa for 10m.I believe with 100m,we’ll get a good squad for next season.Juan mata should be bought no matter what it cost.please Roman,sack ancelotti and bring in marco vanbasten.bring in mijatovic as sporting director.