In July of 2008, Sir Alex Ferguson was playing mind games with Chelsea. Having just appointed Phil Scolari, Ferguson claimed that Chelsea were too old to keep winning trophies, that their experienced players were past their peak and that they wouldn’t be able to continue the success they had enjoyed under Jose Mourinho. When Scolari was sacked after less than a season in charge, it seemed like Ferguson might be right. But Chelsea rallied when Guus Hiddink replaced Scolari, winning the FA Cup, and then the following season they won the Premier League and FA Cup under Carlo Ancelotti.
Ancelotti was fired after the 2010-11 season, and replaced by Andre Villas-Boas, who seemed ready to make sweeping changes to the playing staff. He signed younger players like Juan Mata, Romelu Lukaku and Oriol Romeu, and marginalised experienced players like Nicolas Anelka and Alex. He wasn’t afraid to leave players like Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard on the bench either, but Villas-Boas had one problem; results. Chelsea weren’t winning enough games, and they fell out of the title race. When a 1-0 defeat away to West Brom came hard on the heels of a 3-1 in Italy against Napoli, Villas-Boas was sacked.
Roberto Di Matteo was given the job until the end of the season and results have improved under the Italian, although Tuesday’s defeat to Liverpool meant the club could no longer finish in the top 4. But Chelsea have won the FA Cup and reached the Champions League final. It remains unclear if Di Matteo will be given the job permanently, but there has been renewed speculation that the club will have a summer clearout, with experienced players being moved on.
And the truth is that they should have a clearout. It’s almost five years since Jose Mourinho left the club, but the bulk of Chelsea’s squad is made up of players he signed. Many of those players are well into their 30s now and some of them, as well as others, should be moved on. Here are the players I think should be playing elsewhere next season.
Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou, Henrique Hilario and Yossi Benayoun.
Some of them are pretty obvious candidates for transfers. Yossi Benayoun has spent the season on loan at Arsenal and might move there permanently, but he certainly has no future at Chelsea. Hilario has been Petr Cech’s backup since joining Chelsea since 2006, but he turns 37 this year and Chelsea have Ross Turnbull and Thibaut Courtois to turn to should Cech be unavailable. Ferreira was one of Mourinho’s first signings, but he has fallen behind Jose Bosingwa and Branislav Ivanovic in the pecking order and has rarely featured this season.
Some of the other players I’ve named might not be so obvious. Michael Essien has been a great player for Chelsea, and isn’t yet 30, but he’s had several serious injuries in recent years, and it remains to be seen if he can replicate his best form again. His departure could create room for the highly touted Josh McEachran, who has spent the second half of the season on loan at Swansea. John Obi Mikel signed for Chelsea after a controversial tug-of-war with Manchester United, but he’s never really been able to live up to his potential, and Romeu may be a better long-term option. Florent Malouda has fallen out of favour this season, and the recent signing of Werder Bremen’s Marko Marin will almost certainly force Malouda out.
Salomon Kalou is a player who has never really found a consistent level of performance in England, and can frustrate fans as often as he thrills them, and would also be likely to lose playing time to Marin. Finally, Jose Bosingwa is another player who has suffered serious injuries, and while he looked like one of the world’s best rightbacks when he first joined Chelsea, those injuries seem to have resulted in him losing some of his spark.
Roman Abramovich has never been shy when it comes to splashing the cash for new players, and the money raised from the sales of these players would allow him to give the next Chelsea manager plenty of funds to rebuild the squad. Who that manager will be remains to be seen, but whoever it is should be ready to ring the changes at Stamford Bridge.
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Totally agree we need a clear out and would agree with a lot of those. Not sure about John Obi Mikel as he does a lot more than he is given credit for.
However I would say that unless Frank lampard and Didier Drogba are willing to do as the manager requests then they should go as well.
If you include obi, then you are making a mistake.
If you are including obi, then you are making a mistake.
We’ve spent a good deal of time on one of the Chelsea websites debating this, and out of everyone in the squad I can only see a limited number of players leaving and joining.
Malouda yes I agree should/could leave in persuit of more regular football
Kalou yes I agree again, plus it looks unlikely he’ll renew his contract
Mikel no he needs to stay as he does a solid job in CDM position
Essien serves no purpose leaving except saving on wages. He’s still a reasonable back up and getting rid of him would be like getting rid of Ballack…. You won’t know how needed he was until it’s too late
Ferreira has been a loyal servant and provides good experience for our youngsters coming through. Still useful to play in our current weak position of RB. Serves no purpose getting rid of him.
Hilario same as Ferreira.
Benny agreed can go… No need of him anymore
Drogba needs to stay if only to give us more striking options.
Bosingwa must ONLY go if we can buy a suitable replacement
As for replacements, how many do we really need? Marin is already set. We need 1 more winger and I’d suggest Junior Hoilett as a cheap back-up player (let’s face it we have no need for a starter, just a squad player).
If Bosingwa is leaving then I’d suggest Gregory Van der Weil. We also need a striker IF Drogba doesn’t sign an extention. If he does then we can skip on that section and try to get Bamford ready for first team action as quick as possible. One final dream change for me would be Sturridge to City with Johnson coming the other way in a straight swap. That would give us a squad (plus back ups) of:
Cech (Courtois, Turnbull, Hilario)
Bertrand/Cole (PvAanholt), 2 of Terry/Cahill/Luiz, Greg VdW/Ivanovic (Hutchinson)
Mikel/Essien/Meireles/Romeu/Ramires/Lampard(Josh)
Mata/Sturridge (or Johnson)/Marin (Kakuta, Hoilett, Piazon, Feruz)
Torres/Lukaku/Drogba (Bamford)
For me we’d be a little light in the winger / striker areas which could open the door for another back-up player, but again buying in mega talent won’t work as they’d be fighting for first team action. Either way the squad mentioned above only contains 2 new players one of which we could probably get for about £8m and the other for about £15m. Hardly breaking the bank with the FFP pressures coming into place!
You’re forgetting we’ve already signed De Bruyne.
Why in God’s name would you keep aged non-players like Ferreira & particularly Hilario when they are taking the valuable places of younger, promising, up-and-coming players who need valuable match-time to ply their trade & improve!??
When a player is no longer improving it is time to bring in their respective replacements. Malouda hasn’t improved in the last five years, & now Essien, sadly, also falls into that category.
Any half-blind fool can see that Mereiles is a complete mediocrity & Romeu has alarmingly gone backwards, while Obi Mikel slows down the game with his dithering, going round in circles with the ball & total inability to see, much less make, incisive forward passes; Josh M isn’t ready yet: that’s why we so desperately needed Mata to assist Lampard & STILL need Modric & Hazard.
Drogba cannot go on @ this level for another 18 months so his replacement must be put in place NOW. Falcao was the man to fill his giant boots 12 months ago when we dismally failed to sign him & he is even more so now.
I think frankly that Chelsea should be (& hopefully ARE!) aiming rather higher than Hoilett; Hulk &/or Willian would add some potency & spice up front.