New Signings Imminent?

Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay believes that new signings are imminent at Stamford Bridge and expects at least two players to sign within the next eight to ten days.

Gourlay spoke at a question and answer session with Chelsea’s official Thailand supporters’ club in Bangkok:

“Andre [Villas-Boas] has come in just a few weeks ago and needed some time to look at the pool of players we have, and we strengthened in January with bringing Fernando Torres and David Luiz into the squad.

“When a new coach comes in he has to look at players he has and think about tactics and systems, because different players play differently under different coaches and in the next 10 days Andre has the chance to analyse the squad and then we take it from there, but from our activity in the market place in the past, if the coach feels there is a player available that can strengthen our team then we almost definitely go into the market place, and we will have at least two signings in the next eight to 10 days.”

(ChelseaFC.com)

Gourlay’s words followed the news that Chelsea have agreed a fee with Barcelona for the transfer of 19-year-old Oriol Romeu, a defensive midfielder who Villas-Boas admires and believes that he could help provide cover for long-term injury casualty Michael Essien, assuming personal terms can be agreed and Romeu passes a medical (should go through without a hitch, hopefully).

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Rumours have been rife over who else Chelsea may sign this summer as they aim to strengthen their squad ahead of the coming season and the news that we’re to sign a couple of players in the next ten days has coincided with Palermo president Maurizio Zampirini’s claim that Javier Pastore’s future will be resolved within the same timeframe.

Zampirini says that a European club outside of Italy has offered Palermo €45 million for the 22-year-old Argentine, he told Radio Radio:

“I heard from another great club on Monday, a European one and not an Italian side.

“They are an important European outfit. I spoke to their sporting director and I told them to talk to the player’s agent.

“The person with whom I talked to asked me to lower Pastore’s price from €50 million to €45 million. I’m only accepting cash though and no player exchanges.

“Roma need to hurry up if they want him as I think the situation will be resolved in the next ten days. I’ve not heard from anyone at Roma, though, even if it would be nice if Pastore did continue to play his football in Italy.”

Could Chelsea be the interested party? The club has so far gone about their business fairly quietly this summer (with the exception being the Luka Modric pursuit) and have already caused a few surprises when they made the moves which brought Villas-Boas to Stamford Bridge from Porto, which seemed to take the media and experts by surprise as they were all convinced Guus Hiddink would be the man to succeed Carlo Ancelotti.

Who do you think Chelsea will  during the summer transfer window?