Thursday Transfer Time

The summer transfer window is also known as ‘silly season’ by some, and a few of the rumours being banded about certainly make that phrase seem spot on.

Firstly, Andre Schurrle’s signature was finally tied up, in a deal that most of us probably already thought was completed. The 22-year-old has signed up on a five year deal that saw £18m head to Bayer Leverkusen in exchange for him.

One outgoing was also confirmed today, as the young Dutch defender Jeffrey Bruma returned to Holland, to join up with PSV on a four-year deal. He had spent the last three seasons on loan, at Leicester City and Hamberg, and with just nine appearances in six seasons for us, it made sense to let him go.

5 Chelsea players who deserve a recall

Even after Mourinho departed the club in 2007, it’s fair to say that the opportunities given to our talented youth players in the Chelsea squad have been rather limited.
The likes of Josh McEachran, Romelu Lukaku, Lucaz Piazon, Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick Van Aanholt, Gael Kakuta, Sam Hutchinson are just a handful of the players who had stints of games at first team action before they were loaned out. In spite of the rare chance given these players, we have not stepped back in the pursuit of young talented players.

Down memory lane… ‘The billion pound goal’

It was dubbed as the ‘£20 million’ match before kickoff. The winner would be rewarded with Champions League football, and more importantly for Chelsea, some much needed finance; A far cry from the free-spending ways of today.  

Despite the squad being littered with stars such as Gianfranco Zola, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and the then baby faced Frank Lampard, it was Jesper Grønkjær that stole the show as we faced Liverpool.

John O-bye Mikel?

When a squad is overhauled with technical brilliance in the midfield it is often the unattractive, more defensive player that loses out as the manager tries to squeeze as much creativity into the midriff.

This seems to be what is happening at Chelsea right now with ESPN reporting that Jon Obi Mikel will be making a switch to Turkish side Galatasaray.

Okay, maybe it is not just because of his position, as Mikel has come under some flack this season for his somewhat lacking performances and Rafa Benitez preferred Ramires and even David Luiz in the more defensive positions and it seems Jose Mourinho is not interested in giving him a chance.

Serie A hitman next at the Bridge?

There is no doubt who was star of the show as Napoli finished a commendable 2nd place finish in Serie A, just 6 points behind the winners Juventus.

Edinson Cavani scored 29 of the Azzuri’s 73 goals in Serie A last season and has once again become hot property around Europe’s elite clubs. The 26-year old has dramatically improved over the last year or two, and that could well lead to him pursuing a career away from Naples, and most likely in England.

Chelsea’s Player of the Season….. Number One!

Eden Hazard – 7.30

Ever since announcing he would become a Chelsea player on Twitter last summer, he has had a lot to live up to, and it seems he has, collecting thewhoscored.com Chelsea player of the season, with an impressive 7.30 average rating last season. 

He has many people’s choice to join us at the Bridge due to his flexibility across the midfield, playing comfortably in both the centre, and the left or right attacking midfield positions, though the large majority of them came from the left side of the trio this year.

Chelsea’s Player of the Season: Number 2.

Juan Mata – 7.24

There is no doubt who our player of the season was last season. Juan Mata collected 6 goals and 13 assists from his Premier League season, as from then on, he has gone from strength to strength.

It was maybe harsh he didnt collect the award again statistically this season, but when you see the man that got it, you can understand why.

Chelsea’s Player of the Season: Number 3.

David Luiz – 7.16

We’re back with the top three players of our season today, and at number three, it’s our bushy haired, long-range shooting wizard, David Luiz.

His transformation into a defensive midfielder was backed up with his incredible stats this season. Although only managed two goals this year, you can bank on that increasing if you see him reproduce the accuracy shown with that goal against Fulham, which we simply had to show as our video below.

If Chelsea secure Hulk deal, does it make them Premier League contenders?

Numerous media outlets are reporting that the returned Chelsea gaffer has managed to persuade Blues boss Roman Abramovich to put in a £35m offer for Zenit St Petersburg forward Hulk in order to challenge the Manchester clubs for the Premier League title next season.

Manchester United and Manchester City have hardly been threatened in the previous two campaigns with only each other to fight against, but with the return of the special one and Arsenal expected to spend generously this summer will we see the capital clubs make more of push for the title?