I fully believe Chelsea will be one tough team to beat in three or four years. By tough, I mean the next Barcelona, or Manchester United of old.
Jose Mourinho will be the cherry, on the icing of the cake, but in reality, he really doesn’t have to do much at all. His first reign at the club was very much a time for sculpting, and creating a world-beating team, as part of a four or five year plan. This time around, those wheels are already well in motion.
It’s hard to believe that Oscar, Moses, Hazard, Azpilicueta, and Bertrand are all 23 or under. They managed 137 Premier League appearances between them this season, and are well on the way, if not already, becoming Premier League stars.
The likes of Lukaku, and Courtois, are already there too you would say. Courtois has been a mainstay figure in the Copa Del Rey winning Athletico Madrid side, while Lukaku, the man who looks like he was spoon-fed Creatine Monohydrate as a baby, has fired 17 goals in the Premier League, at a mid-table side.
There lies 7 of a first eleven, not mentioning Mikel, Mata, Ramires, and Luiz, who are all 26 and at the start of their prime. The first thing Mourinho and Abramovich should do is sit down and look at this squad, in say 3 years time, and pick out the gaps, and as I stated yesterday, a centre-back may well be the link needed. My guess is the team could well look something like below:
GK – Courtois, DR – Azpilicueta, DL – Bertrand, DC – Cahill , DC – ________ ,DM – Ramires, DM – Luiz, AMC – Oscar, AML – Hazard, AMR – Mata, FC – Lukaku
Cahill would of course only be 30, and with Ivanovic 33, and Terry 35, you would expect neither of them to be alongside him, especially if we did plan on being the team to beat in three years time.
It makes great reading for Chelsea fans, and with Piazon, Feruz, Romeu, Bruma, van Aanholt, and McEachran in the wings, most of the money should be spent on maintaining the youth products coming through, and ensuring that once we become that team to beat, we stay there.
What does excite me is the forward midfield three, after them all showing their amazing talents over the last year or two, think of what another three years together could do for them.
By Brad Smith
Follow @BrummieBrad