With Chelsea currently leading the title race, José Mourinho would be forgiven for not looking at any potential improvements to add to his already star-studded squad. At this current point in time Chelsea sit five points clear of their nearest rivals, despite the so-called ‘campaign’, and not only boast the second meanest defence but also the deadliest attack in the land. However, all blues fans will know Mourinho is not a man to rest on his laurels. Therefore it comes as no surprise that Chelsea continue to be linked with some of the best players across the globe. Such players have included Bundesliga stars Marco Reus, of Borussia Dortmund, and Karim Bellarabi of Bayer Leverkusen.
Both Reus and Bellarabi are of a certain pedigree; both are German internationals and both are equally adept at playing on the right, or even left side of a fluid attacking three. It was clear Mourinho saw the right-hand flank as an area to improve in January. After only eighteen months at the club, Andre Schürrle was shipped out to Vfl Wolfsburg for a fee rumoured to be around the twenty-three million pound mark. Brought into replace the World Cup-winner came the Colombian star, Juan Cuadrado, via the picture-esque city of Florence with Mohamed Salah going the other way on an initial loan to ACF Fiorentina until the end of this current season.
The arrival of Cuadrado has seen a noticeable improvement in the form of Willian. Despite displaying the tireless work ethic that Mourinho demands of his attacking players, his contribution in the final third has been nothing short of underwhelming for a player who commanded a fee of around thirty million pounds from Anzhi Makhachkala in August 2013. At twenty-six years of age the Brazilian will feel as if he is coming into his peak years, although only achieving a meagre four goals and three assists in thirty outings for the blues this season. But closer examination of the stats do illustrate that the added competition from the signing of Cuadrado has helped to push Willian to find an extra dimension to his game. With the arrival of Cuadrado a formality nearing the end of January, Willian recorded an assist against Liverpool, and since Cuadrado put pen to paper Willian has notched an assist in the 2-1 victory away to Villa and a match-winning goal at the depth against Everton.
Cuadrado’s arrival has also effectively ended any chance of the recruitment of either Marco Reus or Karim Bellarabi.While Marco Reus has established himself as one of the finest attacking midfielders of his generation with 172 Bundesliga appearances to his name and 72 goals, the chances of him joining Chelsea have greatly diminished. Indeed Reus has recently signed a new contract that will tie him to the Ruhr club until 2019. On signing his new contract Reus spoke of his love for Dortmund, his boyhood club, and appears to be in no hurry to jump ship as his team lay deep in the bottom half of the table: “I am delighted to commit my future to BVB. Dortmund is my hometown and Borussia is my club. I am looking forward to a successful future with our team and our fantastic fans behind us. There is a lot of work to be done and I want to pitch in and play my part.”
Nowadays a new contract is no guarantee a player will stay for the foreseeable future, with contracts often used by agents as a ploy to improve their client’s wages or by the club to negotiate a higher fee once the player or club have decided to end their working relationship. However, it is difficult to see how Chelsea could accommodate Reus. The German international has been most effective when deployed by Jürgen Klopp on the left where he would roam inside. As all Chelsea fans know, Eden Hazard occupies the left side of our attacking trio in midfield and is seen as indispensible this season, contributing eleven goals and eight assists in thirty-two appearances this season. Consequently Reus would have to compete with the likes of Oscar, Willian, Cuadrado and potentially Fabregas who is often deployed in a more offensive role away from home.
Similarly, Karim Bellarabi has also opted to extend his stay in the German topflight until 2020, stating the trust of his manager as a key factor in negotiations: “I made a giant leap in the current season under coach Roger Schmidt in my development. Under his direction and in his system I have become a much better player. I’ve never enjoyed such trust as Roger Schmidt. I will do everything to repay him and Leverkusen.” The pacey winger has had a stellar season, starting all of Bayer’s twenty-one league matches and finding the back of the net on nine occasions, he also broke Giovanni Elber’s record of the fastest ever goal scored in the history of the Bundesliga. Such form has earned him his full international debut for Germany in October 2014 in a 2-0 Euro 2016 qualifying defeat away to Poland and has seen him linked to a number of Premier League clubs, including Chelsea. Yet Chelsea’s interest in Bellarabi is comparably difficult to comprehend.
With the exception of injury or suspension, Bellarabi would almost certainly find himself behind the likes of Hazard, Willian and Cuadrado for the two wide positions. Once more, Chelsea have to consider the players out on loan who also play in the same position, whether they are still part of Mourinho’s plans or will be moved on in the summer to fund other interests or potential targets. Names that instantly spring to mind are Christian Atsu, Thorgan Hazard, Gael Kakuta, Marko Marin, Victor Moses, Lucas Piazon, Bertrand Traore, and Mohamed Salah. With the constraints of Financial Fair Play, Mourinho will also look to bring in academy prospects Charly Musonda, Jeremie Boga, Alex Kiwomya and Isaiah Brown into the first team in the coming years. Moreover, such prospects are of an added importance as they help Chelsea comply with UEFA’s Home Grown Player rule. Introduced in the 2006/2007 season, the HGP rule requires each club entering European competitions to name eight home grown players in their twent-five man squad. But to play devil’s advocate, Chelsea’s attacking riches in recent years have hardly restrained technical director, Michael Emenalo, or Roman Abramovich, from dipping into the transfer market for the next flying winger or crafty number ten.
