Chelsea New Season Arrival: Oriold Romeu

Oriol Romeu (Central Midfielder): All of us are familiar with the young chap who was bought from Barcelona where Barcelona had a first refusal option or something like that. And then he went on to shine under Andres Villas Boas (yeah, remember THAT chap too?) and Ancelotti. Following that, he just disappeared. Then he went on loan to Valencia which did not do him much good. And now he is back from Valencia and training with the first team squad. And then Jose Mourinho decides he is good enough to play central midfield for Chelsea – either as first choice or backup (my money on backup). But long story short, Oriol Romeu is still only 22 years old, plays in a position Chelsea are in a lot of need, and he can impress Jose Mourinho. What more do you want? As a result, the club gave him a new 3 year contract. Three years – not five. Why? Because the club knows he may or may not fulfill his potential. If he does fulfill it, then he can go ahead and sign an extension. If he flops, then we can bid him goodbye in a couple of years. In any case, he offers something at least to the central midfield position. Hopefully he will prove Mourinho right. Key items: Familiar face, central midfield, 22 years old, 3 year contract, has to prove himself.

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisition #4: Didier Drogba

Didier Drogba (Striker, legend): The man is back. At 36, he is way way past his prime and he knows it. But just his sheer presence in the dressing room and his natural affinity to demolish everything even remotely associated with Arsenal are sufficient reasons to get excited about this man coming back to the club. In all seriousness, the man is still capable of delivering killer blows – but this time as more of a substitute than the main guy. That is still good enough for me. He has nothing left to prove to anybody in the world. But I would still love to see him put Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal side to the sword at every possible opportunity. Just for a few laughs at least. 

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisition #3: Filipe Luis

Filipe Luis (Left Back): Our new No.3! Ashley ‘the legend’ Cole has left the building. In comes what I would call not the ideal signing – but the next best thing. This man is a proven winner playing already at his peak – perhaps on the latter stages of his peak. But this appears to be more of a stopgap solution rather than a long term solution. However, if you look at it this way, then this is a very long stop gap arrangement. Perhaps in 2-3 years time, he will be on his way out and Chelsea would have found a suitable long term solution for left back. Till then, we have an extremely capable left back from one of the top teams in Europe still having a good few years in his tank and one who is very excited about playing for Chelsea. What more do we want? Key items: 2-3 years peak performance ahead, proven winner, definite first choice.

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisition #2: Cesc Fabregas

Cesc Fabregas (Midfielder): This was an unexpected one. But I still like it. In the past 2 seasons, even with the acquisition of Oscar, Willian and Hazard, the one thing the Blues have just not seen on the pitch is the ‘through ball’. This is partly attributed to the phenomenal lack of footballing presence from our strikers in the past two seasons. But on many many occasions, we have just not had our midfielders slip in that through ball bisecting the opposition defense and straight to the feet of the striker making his run. Nor have our midfielders tried to put an over the top ball directly to the striker. And THIS is what Fabregas can do and it is also what I am looking forward to a lot. Secondly, from what I see in pre-season, he is being made to play that deeper role in Central midfield alongside Matic. While Matic has made that position his own, Fabregas brings a different set of skill for that position. He will need to work on some tackling and defensive aspects of course. But just having someone like him build an attack from the back is something that we should cherish. Add to this, his awesome free kick taking ability and the fact that he is still only 27, and we have a very shrewd signing here. Key item: 3-5 years of peak performance ahead, free kick taking, through ball, over the top ball, central midfield playing position. 

Chelsea Summer Transfer Acquisitions #1: Diego Costa

Diego Costa (Striker): This was the summer’s worst kept secret. Actually it may not have been a secret at all and everyone knew it was just going to happen. Spain’s abysmal World Cup campaign ending fairly early worked out just fine for Chelsea as they were able to finish his signing that much earlier. Faired pretty poor at the WC but I don’t really care much about that. (Hazard had a pretty poor WC too. But what does that mean, eh?) But the most important aspect about Costa’s signing is that he will only turn 26 this October. That would be fair to say that he has another 4-5 years of top level football in front of him. This would be the striker’s peak period. Needless to say, he is going to be the No.1 choice up front – possibly for all those 5 years – ahead of Fernando ‘non-scoring striker’ Torres and Didier Drogba. Key item: 3-5 years of peak performance right ahead.

Lukaku is Not Saying What I want to Hear

Lukaku is the perfect player for me. Not regarding his goal scoring ability or his current form. I am talking more in terms of where he is in his career right now. He is 21 years old and has already spent 2 full seasons in the English Premier League and scored plentiful of goals leaving absolutely no doubt that he will one day be a highly feared striker. The fact that Chelsea own him is what makes it awesome for me. But what really counts here for me (and by extension any CFC fan – smirk!- ) is that he is an early bloomer playing way beyond his expectations at 21 years old. And more importantly, he has his best years still yet to come. He is inevitably reminiscent of another Chelsea legend and he has so much yet to learn and give.

To put it slightly differently, he is the perfect player for any  team to have. And this is why I felt proud and happy that it was Chelsea who he was employed with. 

And then I see these quotes from him:

“You know Chelsea, every year they buy a new top striker,” said Lukaku. “I remember me coming into the dressing room last year and seeing Samuel Eto’o and Demba Ba and going, ‘Whoah! What’s happening here?’

“But no problem. Many clubs are interested in me. At this stage, I have to look to myself. I have to play a good World Cup. That’s very interesting for all the players looking for a transfer. And I must be one of them. Chelsea know my point of view.”

—- Sourced from wherever

And he is in the same situation now. Diego Costa is coming. Torres is not going anywhere. Demba Ba has said that Mourinho wants him to stay. This means Lukaku will still be on the waiting list. Clearly he is better than Torres and Demba Ba combined, but having to fight with 3 other strikers for just one spot on the starting line up is not necessarily the greatest motivator. 

So here is what I anticipate will happen:

Lukaku will have a fabulous World Cup campaign and will attract a lot of attention from a lot of clubs. There will be murmurs about a spat between him and Mourinho following the WC. Eventually, Chelsea sell him to a club outside England for some $30-40 mil. After that, Chelsea (and myself) will watch with great regret how they let slip such an awesome striker. 

I can only hope he goes to Juventus. 😛

What makes a Winning Football Team? Part II: Chelsea FC

In my last post, I had outlined the set of circumstances surrounding a consistently successful team over a period of time. Now using that same school of thought, let’s look at the current teams in England, in Europe and some of the national teams as well. Inevitably we will have to start with Chelsea. 

1. Chelsea FC: Chelsea are in a very interesting position. Their core attacking group now consists of Oscar, Hazard, Willian, Schurle along with the impending arrival of Diego Costa and Fabregas. The first 5 are all between 22 and 25 and they are likely to reach their peaks periods in the next 1-3 years and stay there for a further 3-5 years. Hazard has been an early bloomer but he still has so much higher to go. The latter Spanish duo just got into their prime and should be ready to go immediately. Central midfield and defense has Matic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilecueta and Ivanovic. Matic, Cahill and Ivanovic are in their peak period right now and still have a few more years left in them – Matic in particular. Terry has 1 more year maybe left in him. Azpilecueta is still yet to hit his peak.

The important thing to note among the players mentioned above is that they are supremely talented and during their peak period, they are anticipated to be what we can call as ‘world class’ players. So let’s assume Chelsea do some sensible bit of business and buy another central mid-fielder this transfer window who is just about to hit his peak, and let’s also assume that Mourinho stays for the next 3-5 years and gets to instill his system of playing into all the members.

This would mean that starting this very next season, Chelsea would be on the rise with 4-5 world class players beginning to play at their peak. I do not expect them to be in a truly devastating form for this season and next. But after that, if the circumstances stay the same, my money is on Chelsea getting to the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2-3 of those following 4 seasons and winning it at least once. Domestically, I see them winning 3-4 league titles in the next 5 seasons including next season.  

In addition to all of this, Chelsea have a number of very young players between the ages of 18 and 22 playing in the academy or having a very successful loan spell elsewhere. Kenneth Omeruo, Kurt Zouma, Tomas Kalas, Nathan Ake, Christian Atsu, Lewis Baker, Jon Swift, Bamford are all very young and very good talent – between 19 and 21 years of age. They will take another 3-5 years at least to fully season and reach their peak periods by which time they will be ready to add further value to the team already playing at their peak. I am looking at them as the batch of peak period performers that will come after this current crop. That is if Chelsea still hold on to them. 

Let’s hope Chelsea do hold on to them. 

In the next post, I will be looking at two teams that perfectly illustrate the other end of the cycle where it’s all downhill after the peak: Manchester United and FC Barcelona.