Chelsea transfer activities review

The transfer deadline day was a rather frantic one for big clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal who were trying to improve their squads in a bid to challenge for the title.

However, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea had a rather comfortable time on the deadline day as they did not feel the need for more additions to their squad. Mourinho kept emphasising on the fact that his team were not title contenders throughout the previous season in spite of being in a pole position till March. They dropped points to mid table and bottom table oppositions resulting in a disappointing campaign where Chelsea finished 3 and had a trophy less season, something not expected from a Jose Mourinho team.  Although Chelsea had the best defensive record last season and a talented midfield, the one main area where Chelsea lacked was in the striker department.  Fernando Torres, Demba Ba and Samuel Eto’o were’nt able to deliver the goods as expected. Mourinho decided to rely more on the youth than on buying big names and in that process phased out the older members of the team which then saw the departure of club legends Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.

Chelsea bought in Cesc Fabregas and Felipe Luis to fill in the shoes of Lampard and Cole. Mourinho parted companies with all 3 strikers sending out Fernando Torres on a 2 year loan to A.C. Milan ending a torrid tenure at Chelsea although he will always be remembered for his goal against Barcelona in 2012 Champions League. Samuel Eto’o was released and Demba ba was sold to the Turkish club Besiktas. Chelsea secured the services of Brazilan born Diego Costa and got club legend Didier Drogba back at the club on a one year deal. Loic Remy also joined Chelsea on a four year deal from QPR. Jose Mourinho also recalled the services of Thibaut Courtois from his loan spell at Atletico Madrid. Jose finally feels he has made the changes he wanted and now feels Chelsea are genuine title contenders this season.

Chelsea’s plan seems to be working so far as both Costa and Fabregas have made great starts to their Chelsea careers as Costa bagged a total of 4 goals in 3 games and finally seems to be the striker Chelsea has been longing for a long time. Fabregas on the other hand has been making the necessary assists to create goals for Costa and the others and seems to be filling the shoes vacated by Lampard pretty well. The return of Courtois has demoted Petr Cech to the bench; a move which was expected as Courtois has lately been regarded as the best young goalkeeper. Felipe Luis and Loic Remy are yet to start for Chelsea although Luis didn’t fail to impress the fans in the pre-season friendlies.

Apart From that Mourinho has also promoted a few of its youth team players into the first team like Andreas Christensen, Lewis Baker, Kurt Zouma and Nathan Ake. Apart from that Marco Van Ginkel, who was injured for most of the last season has been loaned out to A.C. Milan for some regular first team action. Chelsea has loaned out a total of 26 players this season. Mourinho and Chelsea seem to have filled up the gaps and look set to challenge for the Premier League and Champions League this season.