The Players Chelsea FC Should Consider Buying This Summer
Ramires
Position: Central Midfield
Club: Benfica
Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 23
Price Tag: €30 million
The young Brazilian midfielder impressed in Benfica’s title winning side in Portugal last season. Having moved to Lisbon from Cruzeiro last summer, the ‘Blue Kenyan’ (as he was nicknamed in his homeland) has become hot property on the European transfer market.
Inter Milan have expressed interest in the player as they look to lower the average age of their midfield. A €30 million release clause in his contract means that one of his many admirers in Europe may well come up with the cash to secure his signature.
Chelsea’s midfield has lost Michael Ballack this summer and with Michael Essien picking up more and more injuries; it might be time to invest in a midfield which has carried itself without major investment for practically five seasons.
Moreover, Frank Lampard is now the wrong side of 30, meaning that he will surely begin to miss more games as the strain of Premier League, Champions League and International fixtures keep racking up on his body. Not to mention the fact that Joe Cole has swapped Chelsea blue for Liverpool red.
Ramires has a knack of scoring goals with runs from deep, as well as an eye for a killer pass. The fact that he is just 23 means that the future of the midfield at Stamford Bridge could be secured for several years, as he would join the relatively youthful pairing of John Obi Mikel and Essien as well as the highly rated youngster Nemanja Matic.
This would be a fantastic signing under the noses of Chelsea’s European rivals, but don’t hold your breath, my reckoning is he is heading to Italy.
Neymar
Position: Striker
Club: Santos
Nationality: Brazilian
Age: 18
Price Tag: €30 million
Bringing two Brazilians to the Premier League would be an unlikely move by Carlo Ancelotti, but Neymar has attracted so much attention from European royalty such as Real Madrid and A.C Milano, it would be foolish to ignore him as an option for bolstering the Chelsea attack.
The Santos player has a price tag of €30 million, just as Ramires does, but with the ridiculous prices of potential signings being reported by the British press, the deal doesn’t seem bad. After all, this player is so highly rated in his homeland that a petition was started in order to get him into the Brazil National Squad for the World Cup in South Africa.
At just 18 years of age Neymar has scored 40 goals in 70 games for Santos, and by playing with experienced campaigners Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, his game can only improve. This player will inevitably come to Europe and once again it seems that a Spanish or Italian club will snap one of the biggest talents in world football.
English clubs all too often ignore South America as a young Diego Forlan’s ‘flop’ at Manchester United still lingers here. Kaka was signed by A.C Milan and Messi by Barcelona. In five years time we could be saying ‘Neymar by Chelsea’.
Mesut Ozil
Position: Attacking Midfield
Club: Werder Bremen
Nationality: German
Age: 21
Price Tag: €20 million
Mesut Ozil could well be heading to Stamford Bridge
Most English fans will have heard of Mesut Ozil, the third generation Turkish immigrant who pledged his future to the German national team and helping to dump out Fabio Capello’s England side in the World Cup last month.
Ozil is a playmaker who likes to roam all areas of the pitch but has been most devastating just behind the striker. He is someone who can unlock the opposition with a pass or a moment of magic, leading to him being named ‘the German Messi’.
A plethora of clubs have shown interest in the 21 year old, with Barcelona pushing for his signature as a potential long term replacement for Xavi when he retires. That’s if Cesc Fabregas remains in London. The Chelsea side has lost some creativity with the departure of Joe Cole and Deco soon to follow; leaving too much reliance on Florent Malouda which may be detrimental to the Frenchman’s game.
Ozil was signed by Werder Bremen in 2007 after two seasons with Schalke 04, but it was when the inspirational Diego left Bremen for Juventus in 2009 when the youngster stepped up to the plate, scoring the winning goal in the German cup final in the same year.
He has been widely recognized as the future of German football for sometime now and is seemingly a perfect replacement for a Joe Cole-shaped gap in the Chelsea squad. Whilst he is not a prolific goalscorer, he would feed passes Drogba and Anelka which would be turned into goals more often than not. So it seems a match made in heaven. Chelsea need a playmaker, Werder Bremen need to sell their star before his contract runs out in a year from now.
The sticking points are that the player has stated that he would rather go to Barcelona and any potential deal would be subject to Cesc Fabregas heading to the Nou Camp. The Catalans are desperate to lure the Spaniard away from England and should he complete the move, Ozil will be in either Chelsea blue or Arsenal red next season. If Fabregas remains, Ozil will get his dream move to Spain.
