Stamford Bridge side ready for busy summer of transfer activity.
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is said to be set for a very busy summer of transfer ins and outs this summer with a trio of talents identified by the Portuguese manager.
CaughtOffside understands that owner Roman Abramovich will insist that player purchases are covered by sales of those Mourinho feels he can afford to lose as the west London club look to adhere to UEFA’s FFP (Financial Fair Play) guidelines.
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Mourinho is ready to trim his expansive squad and will look to address areas he feels are in need of strengthening with the addition of a prolific striker his number one priority.
The Chelsea boss has already made his interest in Atletico Madrid ace Diego Costa known and is ready to register a £37m bid for the forward which the La Liga side may struggle to turn down, especially given that the 25 year old will be offered around £160k a week which would more than double his current salary.
Though there is speculation that the 25 year old has a release clause that can be triggered by an offer of £32m we understand that the clause only allows the player to discuss a move with a prospective suitor and is not necessarily the amount that would secure the Brazilian born Spanish international.
Chelsea are ready to make their offer now and will look to complete a deal before the 2014 World Cup finals though the La Liga side may hope to spark a bidding war for the in-form marksman, who has scored 27 goals in domestic league action alone this term.
Mourinho will then look to land Southampon teenager Luke Shaw as a long term replacement for Ashley Cole, with Cesar Azpilicueta penciled in to return to his regular right-back berth next season with PSG chasing Branislav Ivanovic.
Chelsea will offer £22m for the 18 year old England man, who is said to be a Blues fan, and will also offer Southampton a number of inducements dependent on appearances and achievements though will not agree a percentage of future sales with the south Coast side.
Jose Mourinho also wants to bring in Shaw’s team-mate Adam Lallana to act as a replacement for another Chelsea veteran, Frank Lampard, with the Chelsea manager keen to increase his side’s ‘homegrown’ contingent so as to better meet the Premier League guidelines.
Lallana may well be tempted by a move to a club that can offer him a first taste of Champions League football as well as the chance to battle for major honours but could also be reticent about moving to Stamford Bridge without any guarantees of regular first team football.
Chelsea are ready to stump up up to £16m for the 25 year old.
In January Jose Mourinho proved he was more than willing to cash-in on talents that he didn’t feel were pivotal to his short and long-term plans, selling Juan Mata, Kevin de Bruyne and Michael Essien, and now the Chelsea manager will look to conduct similar sales when the transfer window re-opens.
Mourinho is ready to sell Brazilian David Luiz with PSG and Barcelona known to be interested in the 26 year old, who has played a limited role at Chelsea this term.
The former Benfica man has pretty much exclusively used in a defensive midfield role since the turn of the year and has still started less than half of Chelsea’s Premier League fixtures. Mourinho will look to garner at least £35m from any sale, a figure he is confident he can secure.
A player Mourinho may struggle to secure quite so much for is Spanish flop Fernando Torres who’s form this term will leave Chelsea willing to accept as little as £15m for a player they forked out £50m for back in January 2011.
The 30 year old has scored 19 goals in 107 Premier League fixtures and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is now ready to give up on the former Liverpool man having steadfastly defended his club record purchase for the past three years. A move back to Spain is likely with Atletico Madrid perhaps interested in re-signing their former hero.
The acquisition of Nemanja Matic has all but ended John Obi Mikel’s career at Chelsea, only seeing action in the Champions League as their January signing is cup-tied, the Nigerian has started just two Premier League fixtures in 2014.
Chelsea will hope to secure at least £10m from the sale of the tough tackler.
The Blues were hopeful that sending winger Victor Moses to Liverpool would help act as a shop window for the attacker though things haven’t quite panned out that way.
The former Wigan Athletic man has failed to make much of an impact during his season long loan spell at Anfield and Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is unlikely to look to make the deal permanent.
Chelsea are confident a buyer will be found and will look to make around £8m from the sale of a player who is way down Mourinho’s pecking order.
Another loaned out talent will be made available with Ryan Bertrand being seen as very much surplus to requirements and Aston Villa are said to be interested in bringing in the wide-man on a permanent deal and Chelsea will demand at least £7m for the 24 year old England international.
In an effort to cut the club’s wage bill Jose Mourinho will also allow two of the club’s big earners leave when their contracts expire in the summer.
Cameroon international Samuel Eto’o was brought in on a year long deal and has been a moderate success but is not a long term solution to the club’s lack of cutting edge up front and the relationship between Jose Mourinho and his former Inter Milan charge has suffered since comments made by the Chelsea manager in relation to the forward’s ‘real’ age were made public.
Another striker who will be released is Demba Ba, who has been a bit-part player this season and not the most productive one at that.
The former Newcastle United man will be keen to secure a move to a side who can offer him the regular first team football that he feels is imperative at this stage of his career.
Jose Mourinho will however look to keep hold of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole on new one year rolling deals though of the three left-back Cole may turn down such an offer.
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