How could Chelsea look in the 2013-14 Premier League?

Mourinho’s return has been a sort of ‘Return of the King’ for the Blues’ fans. Those fortress days of Stamford Bridge were the most cherished memories of the Portuguese boss during his previous reign. The fans will want the club to regain that control and autocracy both in London and in England next season. For doing such a feat, Chelsea and Mourinho need to make some crucial decisions before the start of their first league match against Hull City.

The £300m deal

Adidas, the present kit sponsor for Chelsea, has signed a new deal worth 300 million pounds spanning over 10 years until 2023. This is very good news for the club as it falls directly into the club consisting of Man Utd and Real Madrid who make big cash deals on kits and naming rights. With almost 30 million available, apart from the profits from previous season, the manager will have considerable amount of money to spend on transfers to improve the depth of the squad. The developing story on relocation of Stamford Bridge to a nearby site, will also aid the club financially with good matchday revenues in the future, but that is a far fetched possibility at the moment.

The Loanie Story

Chelsea had an extraordinary 23 players on loan last season, while their first team was struggling with depth issues. Many decisions by the management didn’t make sense and contributed to the poor results. The sale of Raul Meireles and the loaning of Michael Essien and an unexpected injury to Oriol Romeu made life difficult for the midfield. The loaned players were not called back and the team had to sustain with its available resources. Now, Mourinho has to make the decision on the players who he wants from that bunch of 22.

The players who left the club after last season were Paulo Ferriera, Florent Malouda, Yossi Benayoun, Hilario and Ross Turnbull along with some youth players who were released. So, that’s 5 places on the roster. The departments needing reinforcements are midfield and attack. Romelu Lukaku, who impressed with West Brom is sure to stay at Chelsea and he will boost the attack consisting of Torres and Ba.

Another player who has turned some heads is Belgian, Kevin de Bruyne. He played in various positions during his time at Werder Bremen and was their best player in most of the matches. Most of the Chelsea faithful believe de Bruyne would solve many issues on the field and they want the club to retain his services rather than sending him on another loan.

Thibaut Courtois, the towering Belgian keeper, who spent 2 years on loan at Atletico Madrid is now going to play for the same team for another season. Petr Cech is still formidable between the sticks and Mourinho believes the Czech international has few more years of top flight football left in him. Cech could aid the transition of Courtois into the Chelsea first team in the future. With the departure of Hilario and Turnbull, the vacancies need to be filled for squad registration. Mourinho could go for the buy option and bring in a cheap and good alternative. Or, youngsters Matej Delac, Jamal Blackman, Sam Walker could get a chance to feature on the bench next season.

The club has already started sending players out on loan this term, and the ones that might get a crack at first team football are very few. While Essien comes back to run the midfield engine, Josh McEachran, Lucas Piazon, Nathaniel Chalobah and Thorgan Hazard will have to prove their mettle during pre-season and earn their spot in midfield.

The defense department might be eased of depth issues if Nigerian Kenneth Omeruo is retained. Omeruo had impressed during the AFCON, containing Drogba and playing a huge part in winning the cup. Dutch defender, Jeffery Bruma had a mixed spell at Hamburg and the player is favoring a move to PSV for more regular football. Chelsea are reportedly asking for a buy back clause to be included in the transfer negotiations.

Other defenders, Wallace, Van Aanholt, Tomas Kalas and Sam Hutchinson will have their futures sorted soon. Wallace has most chance of staying at the club. Attackers, Kakuta, Bamford and Davila are some of the notable loanies last term and all of them might be loaned for another term.

Andre Schurrle

Chelsea confirmed the signing of German international Andre Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen for a reported transfer fee of 18 million pounds. This signing might look like an excessive addition to an already bulging attacking mid contingent, but that might not be the case. When Mourinho is incharge, you just can’t take anything for granted regarding his team selections. Eden Hazard, Oscar and Mata played in excess of 65 games each last season. Victor Moses and Ramires were used as alternatives on wings when the squad needed rotation. The arrival Schurrle will give more options for the manager to manage the squad effectively.

Andre Schurrle is predominantly a wide player who is comfortable playing as a striker or behind the striker. He has a knack of scoring extraordinary goals from long range and he is allegedly equally good with both feet. He has played most of the games for Leverkusen on the left wing, exploiting the wings with his bursting pace and cutting in onto his right foot to have a crack at the goal. He is also comfortable in acting as a defensive winger, adapting his game for a more conserved style.

At 22, he already has 24 caps for his country with 7 goals to his name. Last season with Leverkusen was his best where he amassed 14 goals and 7 assists in 43 appearances. The attacking department of Chelsea is now well bolstered to run the course of next season which could span upto 55 games. With proper management, Eden Hazard, Andre Schurrle, Victor Moses and Marko Marin can form a deadly strikeforce on the wings for Chelsea.

Sellings?

At the moment, there seems to be no possibility for any of the Chelsea players to be sold before the transfer window shuts on September 2nd. While the tabloids have been running some ridiculous stories on Mata, Luiz, Torres and Terry, one with a remotely sensible piece of mind will know those are complete farce.

Speaking realistically, the only players who could, that’s a big COULD, leave in this transfer window are Victor Moses and Demba Ba. Even those transfers sound absurd to me as I write this. So, no one will be sold from the present squad of Chelsea.

Signings?

Oh, there are many. The list is obviously endless. Wayne Rooney, Edinson Cavani, Hulk, Mangala, Zouma, Van Ginkel, Matic, Kondogbia, Alonso, Khedira, Coentrao, Di Maria, Varane….

Some make sense, some sound baffling, some are utter nonsense. Such stories only help the tabloids gain hits and money but serve no purpose except for entertaining the fans with delusional tidbits. Again, with Mourinho, you can never say who he will sign. Chelsea had been chasing Schurrle from a long time and he is a club signing, which got fast forwarded with the arrival of Mourinho.

Also 17-year-old Christian Cuevas will be joining the club from Chile. Chelsea signed Cuevas from O’Higgins last season for 1.7 million but the Chilean will join Chelsea only this summer.

Cavani: Another Torres?

Coming to the logical rumors and practical signings, the club needs a defender, a striker and 2 midfielders to sustain a grueling season. While there are alternatives in the loanie bunch in the form of Lukaku, McEachran and Omeruo, there is a chance of 3 more signings apart from Schurrle. The transfer saga of Cavani looks to be unending and could prolong well upto August.

Rooney too is a viable option for Mourinho, and Hulk might be clear waste of money at the moment. Of the lot, Cavani seems to be the most ideal acquisition, but that can happen only with a LOT of money, Torres-esque money. Rooney on the other hand, brings a lot of positives. Homegrown, EPL experience, Mourinho likes him and the player is reportedly not happy at Man Utd.

Marco Van Ginkel: Does it make sense?

Other strong rumors are of Marco Van Ginkel. The Vitesse Arnhem midfielder has been hyped up as the next big thing in Dutch football recently and that many big clubs are fighting for his signature. Chelsea are the club linked to him the most in the papers. If the signing goes through, it will surely not add anything to the 2013-14 campaign as he is only 20-years-old and will most probably be loaned out. Frenchman, Kondogbia is also rumored as Mourinho’s option in defensive mid. But with Mikel and Romeu already in similar mould of quality, there is very less chance of this signing happening.

Mourinho came to Chelsea from Real Madrid. Naturally, many of Real’s players will be linked with a move to London. While Higuain is thinking in an other direction of London, the likes of Alonso, Khedira, Varane and Di Maria have been linked to West London. No, not QPR. Certainly, none of those players, except Khedira have a chance of leaving Spain. Khedira too is an eccentric possibility, but a perfect one. Khedira would provide a lot of options in the midfield and is versatile enough to be used in many roles.

The 2013-14 Season

Unquestionably, there would be a big article on this subject in coming months. But for now, lets just evaluate what has been established till now in this article. The 25 man Chelsea squad for the next season could look something like this.

Goalkeepers : Cech, Blackman, New signing

Defenders : Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic, Cahill, Omeruo, Azpilicueta, Wallace, Cole, Bertrand, New Signing

Midfielders : Mikel, Essien, Ramires, Lampard, Romeu, New Signing

Attacking Midfielders : Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Marin, Moses, Schurrle

Strikers : Torres, Lukaku, Ba

The Premier League rules state that the 25 man squad should be submitted after the summer transfer window has 8 slots for homegrown players, 17 for overseas players and an unlimited number U21 players.

So, barring the U21 players, and adding the new signings, assuming they are not homegrown and above 21 years of age, Chelsea will have 22 players who can be registered for the 2013-14 season until the January transfer window. There is room for one more new player, and if any of the new signings are homegrown, Chelsea have enough slots to maintain 3 full teams at a time.

The Champions League squad registration is much more complex than this and will be dealt with in detail on a later date. As the new dawn approaches at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho, with his young brigade will march down the tunnel to face the newly promoted Hull City. Expect a colosseum-esque atmosphere. For now, peace.